FILE - CBE
CAIRO - 16 January 2023: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, is set to issue LE 4.5 billion in treasury bonds (T-bonds) on Monday, Jan. 16.
The T-bonds were offered in three installments, with the first valued at LE 1 billion with a 1.5-year term, the second worth LE 3 billion with a three-year term, and the third worth LE 500 million with a five-year term.
The government borrows through bonds and treasury bills over different periods of time, and government banks are the largest purchasers of them.
The banks operating in the Egyptian market are the largest sectors investing in bonds and treasury bills, which the government periodically offers to cover the state's general budget deficit.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided, in December, to raise the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) interest rates by 300 basis points, or 3 percent, during its last meeting in 2022.
Egypt is witnessing an inflationary wave that has been accelerating almost every month since the beginning of 2022, as a result of the high costs of importing energy and food, due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, and the Corona epidemic crisis.
Egypt reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in November, worth $3 billion. It also devalued its currency twice, in March and late October, after an exit wave of hot money on the successor to the Ukraine crisis and the US interest rate hike on the dollar.
On Oct. 27, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced the issuance of several decisions related to the exchange rate, interest rates and letters of credit for importing. The decisions which were taken in an exceptional meeting included raising the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) interest rates by 200 basis points or 2 percent.
This led to a total rise in interest rates of 500 basis points in Egypt during 2022, coinciding with the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates by a total of 375 basis points from the beginning of the year until Nov. 3.
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