By: Heba El-Kordy

Cairo – Mubasher: Net foreign investments in Egypt’s treasury bills (T-bills) have increased by $8-9 billion since the beginning of 2019, Fakhry Elfiky, a board member at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said.

Egypt’s T-bills have remained attractive to foreign investors since the floatation of the Egyptian pound.

The CBE has continued its monetary easing policy, cutting interest rates four times by a cumulative of 450 basis points (bps) in 2019.

In September, the finance minister Mohamed Maait revealed that net foreign investments in public debt instruments reached $20 billion since the CBE’s decision to float the EGP exchange rate. 

Elfiky expects Egyptian debt instruments to remain attractive in the light of the global trend towards monetary easing.

Amid trade tensions between the US and China, foreign investment funds injected $490 million into Egypt’s T-bills, he added.

For her part, Aliaa Mamdouh, a senior analyst at Beltone Financial, said that Egyptian government debt instruments are expected to continue to attract foreign investments despite the reduction in interest rates as they are still attractive when compared to those in emerging markets such as Argentine and Turkey.

As Euroclear deal is set to come into force by the beginning of 2020, Egyptian debt instruments will lure new foreign investors, she added.

In October, Egypt signed an agreement with Euroclear Bank to link the Egyptian government’s local-currency debt instruments with the Brussels-based institution.

It is noteworthy that since the beginning of 2019, the EGP strengthened by 11% against the US dollar.