Eurobonds in February MINISTER of Finance Amr Al-Garhi announced that Egypt will issue dollar-dominated Eurobonds in the first half of February worth about $4 billion. Al-Garhi announced earlier that Euro-dominated bonds were planned to be issued as well following the dollar bonds to a value of around one to 1.5 billion Euros. According to the minister, HSBC, JP Morgan, Citibank, Morgan Stanley and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi will arrange the next Eurobonds issue. Egypt issued $7 billion worth of Eurobonds in 2017. The government sold $4 billion of Eurobonds in January 2017, then $3 billion in May last year. S&P credit rating likely to rise STANDARD and Poor's (S&P), the international credit-ratings agency, believes it is possible to raise Egypt's credit rating this year amid strong growth prospects. In November 2017, S&P revised Egypt's outlook from stable to positive on rising reserves and strengthening economic growth, but it maintained a B- sovereign credit rating, reflecting wide fiscal and external deficits. According to Zahabia Gupta, an associate analyst at S&P, the agency's positive outlook for Egypt reflects the prospect of a higher credit rating this year, especially after the economic reform efforts being undertaken with support from the International Monetary Fund. “Continuing to implement economic and financial reforms will strengthen trust in Egypt's business sector and help maintain cash flows,” Gupta was quoted by the Al-Borsa newspaper as saying. He also believes that current infrastructure efforts in areas like the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the National Road Network and the New Administrative Capital are promoting strong growth in the construction sector. Last week, Fitch Ratings revised the outlook for Egypt's Long-Term Foreign and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to positive from stable and affirmed the IDRs at a B rating. Credit ratings are important as they are used to assess countries' credit-worthiness, and thus have a big impact on borrowing costs. Egypt's exports up EGYPTIAN exports registered an increase of 2.3 per cent in 2016, according to a statement released on 22 January by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). Total exports rose slightly to $22.2 billion in 2016 compared to $22 billion in 2015. Non-oil exports moved up to $19.5 billion from $18.3 billion, while oil and electricity exports fell by 19.8 per cent to $2.95 billion from US$3.68 billion in 2015. Manufactured goods represented around 48 per cent of total exports. Exports of semi-manufactured products were estimated at $6 billion in 2016, compared to around $4 billion in 2015, a 37.8 per cent increase. The United Arab Emirates was the top importer of Egyptian goods, followed by Saudi Arabia and Italy.
