Foreign investors procure 10% of T-bills by March: CBE

CAIRO – 8 June 2017: Foreign investors purchased 10 percent of treasury bills issued by the Egyptian government by March, the monthly bulletin of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said Wednesday.

Total value of foreign purchases of T-bills, since the flotation of the Egyptian pound in November to March, reached LE 73.6 billion ($ 4 billion), according to the report.

Current balance at the CBE from T-bills registered LE 741 billion by the end of March, up from LE 720 billion in February and LE 701.3 billion in October 2016.

State-owned banks have acquired LE 243.5 billion (32.8 percent) from the total T-bills balances; while private-sector banks acquired LE 234.2 billion, foreign banks ( LE 23.3 billion), National Investment Bank (LE 22.4 billion) and insurance companies (LE 5.3 billion).

Foreign investments in treasury bills reached $7.53 billion (LE 136 billion) from November to date, Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy said last week.

By the end of January, investments in treasury bills recorded $570 million, Deputy Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies Ahmed Kojak said in February.

The Ministry of Finance plans to issue LE105.25 billion in treasury bonds and bills over June, state-owned news agency MENA reported last week.

Listing the values of T-bills, the ministry said that that 91-day and 182-day term bills will be issued at values of LE 25.25 billion each, while the 273-day bills at 24.25 billion and 364-bills at LE 24.25 billion.

In the same month, the ministry will issue three-year treasury bonds at the value of LE 1.75 billion, five-year and seven-year bonds at LE 1.5 billion each and 10-year bonds at LE 1.5 billion.