By: Mostafa Adel
Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) is currently coordinating with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to repurchase several bond issues that were guaranteed by the ministry on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE), a top ministry official said Tuesday.
The bonds were issued on the ISE when the Egyptian pound was floated in November 2016.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo, finance minister Amr El Garhy said that the ministry was examining the volume of foreign debt that was set to be repaid over the next two years.
The MoF and the Cabinet agreed to issue $3 billion to $4 billion in international dollar-denominated bonds added to around EUR 1 billion to EUR 1.5 billion in Eurobonds, the minister added.
El Garhy said previously that Egypt was working on establishing an international bonds programme worth around $8 billion in cooperation with global bourses.
During the first six months of 2017, Egypt successfully launched dollar-denominated bonds worth $7 billion.
However, the recent expansion in global bond issues has raised Egypt’s foreign debt to $79 billion by the end of June 2017.
Debt refinancing will be carried out through the repurchasing of international dollar-denominated bonds in bourses like the ISE with maturity dates of December 2017, November 2024, and November 2028.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
