Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will issue treasury bills (T-bills) worth EGP 20.5 billion on Thursday on behalf of the Ministry of Finance to finance the country’s budget deficit.

The first tranche of the T-bills stands at EGP 10 billion and will be offered through 182-day notes, while the second tranche will be offered through 364-day notes valued at EGP 10.5 billion, the CBE said via its official website.

State-run banks are the largest holders of the government debt instruments.

Previously, the finance ministry revealed plans to diversify financing sources and expand into long-term debt instruments instead of short borrowing.

The Egyptian government managed to cut public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to 90.5% at the end of June 2019, compared to 98% at the end of June 2018.