The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will, on Sunday, post three tenders of treasury bills (T-Bills) and bonds, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, at a total value of EGP 24.5bn. The first offering is of 182 days and valued at EGP 10bn, the second offering of EGP 11bn will be for 364-day bills, and the third offering, worth EGP 3.5bn, will be for five-year bills. In a statement in May, the Finance Ministry confirmed the possibility of reducing the accepted quantities of local currency in T-Bills and bonds until the end of the current fiscal year (FY) 2019/2020. The ministry has indicated its desire to diversify funding sources to reduce the cost of borrowing. With these three bids under its belt, the CBE will have issued T-Bills and bonds worth EGP 186bn in May. According to the government issuances of debt instruments map, 16 T-Bill offerings were issued during May at a value of EGP 159bn. A further eight tenders for bonds worth EGP 27bn were also issued during the month. The most recent move comes as part of a government plan aimed at offering T-Bills and bonds worth EGP 610bn from 1 April to the end of June 2020. 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 will be issued through 15 banks that participate in the ‘primary dealer' system in the primary market. Those banks will resell part of this on the secondary market to individuals and local and foreign institutions.
