Egypt eyes more bond issues in coming months

Cairo negotiating aid from lenders to help revive economy

Egypt will issue a €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion, Dh6.6 billion) bond by the end of November and plans to launch a new $10 billion Eurobond programme next year, the Boursa newspaper reported yesterday.

Finance Minister Amr Al Garhy told the newspaper that Cairo planned to sell Eurobonds worth $3-$4 billion (Dh11-Dh14.7 billion) in the first quarter of 2018, but did not give a detailed timetable for the new programme.

Earlier this year, Egypt sold $7 billion in five-, 10- and 30-year bonds, part of its return to international markets after turmoil following the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Al Garhy said the finance ministry would decide within the next two weeks when to issue the euro-denominated bonds but it would be before the end of November.

That would be part of the existing programme.

“The issue will be in the range of €1.5 billion after the approval of the cabinet,” he said. “We aim at issuing bonds worth between $3 billion and $4 billion during the first quarter of the next year.”

Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since the 2011 revolt.

Credit positive

“The news is credit positive, as Egypt is aggressively diversifying its funding source and capitalising well on improving conditions to attract foreign currency inflows,” said Hany Farahat, senior economist at Cairo-based CI Capital.

Egypt’s foreign reserves jumped to $36.04 billion at the end of July, according to the central bank, their highest level since the 2011 uprising hammered the economy and foreign investment, draining the country of foreign currency.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July approved a second loan instalment worth $1.25 billion, part of a threeyear, $12 billion IMF credit that is tied to economic reforms such as subsidy cuts and tax hikes.