Cairo – Mubasher: Returns on the Egyptian government’s treasury bills increased on Thursday’s auction, according to date released by the ministry of finance (MoF).

The return on the 182-day bills increased to 16.075% compared to 15.873% in the last auction.

Similarly, the return on the 364-day treasury bills went up to 16.842% up from 16.503% in last Thursday’s auction.

The CBE previously announced it is planning to auction treasury bills worth EGP 12 billion to support the country’s budget deficit.

Earlier, the MoF stated that Egypt’s budget deficit increased to EGP 191.6 billion in the fiscal year 2015-2016, representing 6.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and is estimated to reach EGP 319.46 billion in FY16/17.

Egypt's local debt reached EGP 2.49 trillion by March 2016, while external debt stood at $53.4 billion by the third quarter of FY2015-16, according to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) database.