Egyptian policy makers are weighing plans to raise 1.5 billion euros from the country’s first sale of euro-denominated bonds, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said. The possible sale would happen before the end of November, El-Garhy told Bloomberg News in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh on Thursday. He didn’t give more details.
With local borrowing costs above 15 percent, Egypt is increasingly looking at international debt markets to capitalize on growing investor confidence after it floated its currency and cut costly energy subsidies. The steps helped seal a three-year $12 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund in November.
Central bank Governor Tarek Amer said on Wednesday that Egypt is studying an offer from international banks to renew and expand a $2 billion financing deal agreed last year. Banks have offered to increase the repurchase transaction to $5 billion, he said.
The North African country raised $7 billion from the sale of Eurobonds in the fiscal year that ended in June, including $4 billion in January consisting of five-, 10- and 30-year bonds with yields of 6.125 percent, 7.5 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.
