Egypt to Issue more Eurobonds by November

Egypt plans to issue a new $1.8 billion bond by the end of November and a new $10 billion Eurobond program next year, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said on Monday.

According to the official, the finance ministry would determine the currency of its next Eurobond issuance within two weeks.

“The issue will be in the range of $1.8 billion after the approval of the cabinet,” he said, adding that Egypt aims to issue bonds worth between $3 and $4 billion during the first quarter of next year.

Garhy told Reuters Tuesday that his ministry is looking to issue Euro-denominated Eurobonds to fulfill short-term obligations and to diversify its currency basket.

In January, Egypt sold $7 billion in five, ten, and 30-year bonds, part of its return to international markets since the 2011 Arab-spring. The country faces a financing gap of about $10 billion for the current fiscal year and foreign reserves have dried amid difficult economic reforms.

The government is expecting to receive the last $1 billion instalment of a three-year World Bank loan and the last $500 million from the African Development Bank to revamp its economy.

The economy is to grow 3.9 percent by the end of 2017 and will be largely driven by public investment and net exports, according to the World Bank, while the finance ministry expects growth rate to reach 4.75-5.0 percent in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2017-2018.

GDP growth this year is reported to be slower, down from an estimated 4.3 percent in the same period last year.