The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, will issue EGP 212.5bn worth treasury bills and bonds this month. This comes as part of a government plan aimed at launching tenders for government debt instruments worth EGP 547bn in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019/20 (3Q20), which runs from January to March, with the aim of bridging the deficit in the state budget. It is expected that the value of the public budget deficit by the end of FY20 will reach about EGP 445.1bn. In January, the CBE issued bids for treasury bonds and bills at a value of EGP 166.5bn, and more bids worth EGP 168bn in February. The Ministry of Finance targets to issue 16 T-Bill bids worth EGP 175bn, and 10 T-Bond bids worth EGP 37.5bn in March. According to the plan, the maturities of proposed T-Bill bids are 91-day worth EGP 20bn, 182-day worth EGP 50bn, 273-day worth EGP 52.5bn, and 364-day worth EGP 52.5bn. As for T-Bonds, the government will offer EGP 12bn worth 3-year T-Bond bids due in February 2023, EGP 8bn worth 5-year bid due in January 2025, EGP 10.5bn worth 7-year bid due in June 2027, and EGP 7bn worth 10-year due in January 2030. The CBE revealed last week that the volume of outstanding balances from T-Bills increased to about EGP 1.549trn in January, compared to EGP 1.512trn in December 2019, an increase of EGP 37bn. The banks operating in the Egyptian market are the largest investors in treasury bonds and bills that the government offers periodically to cover the state's public budget deficit. These bonds and bills are issued through 15 banks that participate in the system of primary dealers in the primary market and those banks resell part of it in the secondary market to investors from individuals and local and foreign institutions. According to the CBE, the banks reduced their investments in government treasury bills by about EGP 28.9bn to register EGP 647.7bn in January, compared to EGP 676.6bn in December 2019.
