Egypt to issue U.S. dollar- denominated bonds in Q1 of 2018

CAIRO – 20 July 2017: Egypt will issue U.S. dollar- denominated bonds during the first quarter of 2018, Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy announced in a press conference Thursday.

The value of the bonds will be determined according to the financial needs and fiscal gap of the state budget, Garhy added.

In May, Egypt raised $3 billion in a Eurobond sale, about twice as much as targeted and at lower cost than when the same bonds were first sold in January.

Egypt returned to international debt markets to cover its financing needs following its successful sale earlier this year of $4 billion in five-, 10- and 30-year bonds.

Commenting on May’s sale, Garhy told Reuters the sale would be used to help meet the government's financing needs for the fiscal year to June 2018 and that it could tap markets again next February or March.

The sale plus anticipated payments from foreign institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank "means we have largely succeeded in plugging the financing gap within the FY 2017-18 budget," he told Reuters.