The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said the average yield on 182-day treasury bills rose to its highest in more than a decade at an auction on Thursday and CBE sold all the bills it had offered. The government has turned to the domestic market to finance a widened budget deficit since a popular uprising unseated Egypt's president last year, stretching the lending ability of local banks. The average yield on the 182-day bills rose to 15.532% from 15.492% at an auction last week, and EGP 3 billion ($495 million) worth were sold. The average yield on 364-day bills eased slightly to 15.943% from 15.965% at last week's auction. CBE sold EGP 3.5 billion worth of the 364-day bills, the same amount it had sought, Reuters reported. CBE sells the bills on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.
