Egypt Auctions T-Bonds worth $5 Billion

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) auctioned treasury bonds on Thursday, valued at $ 5 billion, with maturities of 4, 12 and 30 years.

The four-year maturities of $ 1.25 billion were auctioned off by 5.75%, 12 years were issued with a value of 1.75 billion at 7.625%, and 30 years worth $ 2 billion were auctioned at 8.875%.

The auction is 50 basis points below the bond launch levels earlier in the day. The deal attracted bids for more than $6 billion for the four-year maturities and the 12 years bonds, in addition to more than $7.6 billion for the 30 years maturities.

The deal comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $ 2.77 billion emergency support fund under the Rapid Credit Facility for Egypt to tackle the pandemic.

Egypt has appointed BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC and Standard Chartered to arrange the operation, which is expected to be closed later on Thursday.

Egypt issues bonds to support government spending

As of Thursday, Egypt had reported 14,229 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 680 deaths.

Global economies, including Egypt has come under pressure since the emerging of the coronavirus (COVID-29) epidemic, which has shutdown the tourism sector, a major source of revenue for the Egyptian economy.

Meantime, the government has taken steps to contain the outbreak, including a partial curfew as well as the closure of cafes, museums, and malls, yet it has refrained from imposing a complete lockdown as it seeks to keep the economy open.

It is noteworthy that Egypt received more than $21 billion worth of bids, however, the country accepted $5 billion only.