Egypt to issue $1.5B-$2B Eurobond within one week

CAIRO - 15 May 2017: Egypt will issue a Eurobond of between $1.5 billion and $2 billion within the next week, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy told Reuters on Monday.

Egypt sold $4 billion of Eurobonds in three tranches in January, raising twice as much as targeted and at lower yields than expected.

A second issuance with high turnout in just five months would suggest growing appetite among foreign investors for Egypt, which has struggled to revive its economy following a political uprising in 2011.

The country has sought a variety of funding sources to plug its financing needs as it pushes through ambitious economic reforms that include subsidy cuts and tax hikes as part of a three-year $12 billion IMF program widely praised by economists and investors.

In April the government raised the cap on the maximum amount of dollar bonds it can issue on international markets per year to $7 billion from $5 billion, paving the way for another Eurobond issuance.

It said at the time that the Ministry of Finance was seeking to obtain additional financing in the face of a rise in interest rates on the domestic market and to increase U.S. dollar reserves held by the central bank.

The new bonds will not require a second road show as they will be part of the same debt program issued in January.