The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has received 39 bids from local and foreign investors to cover the tender of local treasury bills (T-bills) denominated in euro, with a total value of €819.5m. CBE put forward this tender, amounting to €685m for a one-year period, due on 8 November 2022. The proceeds of the bid will be directed to repay a previous bid, which was launched on 10 November 2020, with a value of €698.3m. CBE accepted 34 of those bids, worth €699.5m, with interest ranging between 1.375% as the lowest price, 1.4% as the highest price, and 1.398% as the average. Some institutions requested a return of 1.9%, which was rejected by the Central Bank. It is noteworthy that CBE has been offering T-bills in euros since 28 August 2012, and the first return granted on those bills amounted to 3.25%. The Central Bank allows subscription in euro-denominated bills for both local banks and foreign institutions, with a minimum subscription of €100,000 and its multiples. Banks subscribe to euro bills in the same manner as in local currency bills, where each bank submits its bid to the Central Bank, indicating the amount to be subscribed to in the bills and the interest rate it requests. Bids are collected at the Central Bank for study and acceptance of the appropriate ones. Banks operating in the local market rely a lot on T-bills to invest their liquidity in euros in a vessel guaranteed by the government, with an appropriate return, in the absence of other investment options, except for the rare syndicate loans that are offered irregularly or investment in the global money markets.
