CAIRO — Egypt plans to offer US-dollar certificates of deposit to Egyptians living abroad at the beginning of March to help it raise foreign currency, Al-Borsa newspaper on Tuesday quoted Finance Minister Momtaz al-Saeed as saying. Egypt has said it is looking to sell CDs as well as Islamic sukuk instruments — bonds acceptable in Islamic law — and land sales to Egyptians living abroad to help plug an external financing shortage estimated at US$11 billion over the next 18 months. The country's balance of payments deficit has widened dramatically during the economic and political turmoil of the last year. "The government will offer CDs with values ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 within the framework of the government's program of making foreign currency available," the newspaper quoted Saeed as saying. He said procedures for the offering will be finalized in the next two days and the government was still studying the size of the offering, Al-Borsa reported. Saeed was not immediately available for comment.
