Egypt's central bank issues LE 29B in T-bills, bonds Tuesday

CAIRO – 18 May 2021: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, issued on Tuesday, May 18, treasury bills and bonds for the second consecutive day compensating Eid Al-Fitr holiday, worth LE 29 billion.

The T-bills were offered in two installments, with the first valued at LE 10.5 billion with a 91-day term, and the second worth LE 8 billion with a 266-day term.

As for the t-bonds, they were also offered in two installments, with the first valued valued at LE 5 billion with a two-year term, and the second worth LE 5.5 billion with a 10-year term.

For the current fiscal year, the budget deficit is estimated to record 6.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), planned by the ministry to be financed through treasury bills and bonds and through international and Arab loans.

Egypt’s banks and bourse were off from Wednesday, May 12, till Sunday, May 16. These holidays comes in celebration of Eid El-Fitr.

Fridays and Saturdays are official weekly holidays for EGX and CBE.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided Wednesday to keep the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation unchanged at 8.25 percent, 9.25 percent, and 8.75 percent, respectively. The discount rate was also kept unchanged at 8.75 percent.

Egypt's 2020/2021 draft budget aims to reduce public debt of GDP to 82.7 percent by end of June 2021, up from earlier target of 82.5 percent by the end of June 2020 and to 77.5 percent by the end of June 2022.