Egypt's outstanding balances of local T-bonds, bills reach LE 4.962T by end of 2023

CAIRO - 4 February 2024: The outstanding balances of local treasury bonds and bills (T- bonds and bills) in Egypt reached approximately LE 4.962 trillion by the end of 2023, the Ministry of Finance revealed.

 

According to the latest report published on its official website, the outstanding balances from treasury bills amounted to around LE 2.670 trillion. This includes about LE 1.172 trillion for 364-day bills, approximately LE 229.796 billion for 273-day bills, about LE 395.297 billion for 182-day bills, and roughly LE 872.638 billion for 91-day bills.

 

The Finance Ministry mentioned that bids for treasury bills worth LE 711.638 billion were awarded in January. The remaining value is scheduled to mature from February 6 to December 24, 2024, considering that similar bills are reintroduced weekly.

 

Additionally, the Ministry of Finance reported that the outstanding balances from treasury bonds at the end of December 2023 amounted to approximately LE 2.291 trillion. This includes around LE 76.378 billion in zero-coupon bonds and about LE 28.502 billion in variable-yield bonds.

 

The Finance Ministry stated that bids for bonds amounting to LE 55.599 billion were awarded in January, while the remaining value is set to mature from February 11 to January 18, 2037. Similar to treasury bills, bonds are reintroduced weekly.

 

Banks operating in the Egyptian market are the major investors in the treasury bonds and bills regularly offered by the government to cover the general state budget deficit.

 

These bonds and bills are presented through 15 banks participating in the Primary Dealers System in the primary market. These banks resell a portion of them in the secondary market to individual and institutional investors, both local and foreign.

 

The Ministry of Finance had previously announced the government's intention to borrow LE 1.647 trillion from the local market during the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023/2024 to cover previous debt obligations and finance the general state budget deficit.

 

According to the government's plan, the Ministry of Finance aims to issue 52 treasury bill tenders worth LE 1.603 trillion and 28 bond tenders worth LE 44 billion from January 1 to the end of March 2024. This reflects the government's need for short-term liquidity.

 

A recent report from the Ministry of Finance revealed an increase in the general state budget deficit during the first five months of the fiscal year 2023/2024 by 92 percent, equivalent to LE 312.13 billion. The deficit reached LE 652.65 billion from July to the end of November 2023, compared to a deficit of LE 340.52 billion during the corresponding period of 2022/2023. This raised the budget deficit as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 5.51 percent, up from 3.37 percent.

 

According to the report, the rise in the budget deficit is attributed to a significant increase in debt interest expenses to LE 713.41 billion during the first four months of 2023/2024, compared to LE 357.87 billion during the same period in 2022/2023. This contributed to the increase in expenditures to LE 1.258 trillion from LE 808.52 billion. Meanwhile, budget revenues increased to LE 608.96 billion from LE 463.95 billion.