Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will issue treasury bills (T-bills) worth EGP 19 billion on Thursday on behalf of the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The first tranche of the T-bills, valued at EGP 9.25 billion, will be offered through 182-day notes, while the second tranche amounts to EGP 9.75 billion and will be offered through 364-day notes, the CBE said via its official website.

The issuance will be used to finance the country’s budget deficit.

State-owned banks are the largest holders of the government's debt instruments.

On 22 August, the CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to slash the current interest rates by 150 basis points.

Accordingly, the yield on the first EGP-denominated T-bills issued after the decision fell to 16.5% amid expectations for rising foreign demand on Egypt’s debt instruments.

At the end of July, foreign holdings of Egyptian debt instruments amounted to $20.1 billion, board member of the CBE Fakhry El Fekki said.