The Central Bank of Egypt issued on Sunday treasury bills, a form of government debt, amounting to EGP 6bn. It has not yet been announced what exactly these treasury bills will fund, according to Ahmed Sakr, an employee at the bank, who added that "issuing treasury bills is commonly done by the Ministry of Finance." The credit officials of the public banks reportedly said their banks were willing to contribute to government projects, according to Alborsa news. Meanwhile, the Central Bank on Wednesday denied allegations that it intends to freeze deposits in the banks. The interim cabinet adopted an economic stimulus plan announced on Thursday, which will aim to create a 3% growth rate over the current fiscal year through additional investment projects worth EGP22.3bn. These projects involve strengthening electricity grids, new road projects, and constructing residential units. The current budget deficit is 14%, which the government aims to reduce to 9% by the end of this year through these investment projects as well as the grants received from Gulf countries. GDP registered a growth rate of 2.2% during the second quarter of the fiscal year 2012-2013, compared to 2.6% during the first quarter of the same fiscal year. The government borrowed more in July than it had previously in the last three years according to a statistics published earlier in August by the Ministry of Finance.
