Egypt expects its dollar-denominated Eurobond issuance to bring a yield of 6 to 6.5 percent next October, Aswat Masriya reported Monday, citing deputy finance minister Ahmed Kojak. In media statement on the sidelines of Monday's Euromoney conference, Kojak told reporters that Egypt will issue $3 billion-denominated Eurobonds at the end of October "if the time is suitable." The finance ministry announced in August that four international investment banks, including the French bank Natixis, Citibank, JP Morgan and BNP Paribas, were selected by Egypt to issue $3 billion-denominated Eurobonds in the global bond market. In early August, Egypt's cabinet approved plans for an international bond issuance of between $3 billion and $5 billion. The United States-founded global law firm Dechert was named as the legal consultant on the issuance, a finance ministry statement said last week. Egypt has searched for a variety of funding sources, from development loans to foreign grants and aid, to plug its financing needs as it contends with an acute dollar shortage that has hampered its ability to purchase from abroad. In June, finance minister Amr El-Garhy said that "we are studying a bond issuance of $3 billion on the international market between September and October of this year in order to fill part of the budget's financing gap, which is expected to reach $10 billion." Egypt raised $1.5 billion in Eurobonds in June 2015 after a five-year halt. The issuance was part of Egypt's approved bond-issuance programme of up to $10 billion that was announced by then-finance minister Hany Kadry Dimian. Egypt and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement last week on a $12 billion fund facility over three years, which is awaiting approval by the fund's executive board. Since the 2011 revolution, Egypt has seen its foreign reserves more than halve to reach $16.5 billion in August, with a turbulent economy and political turmoil scaring off investors and tourists.
