Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will offer treasury bills (T-bills) worth EGP 18.5 billion on Sunday on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.

The first tranche of the T-bills will be offered through 91-day notes valued at EGP 11 billion, while the second tranche is worth EGP 7.5 billion and will be offered through 273-day notes, the CBE said on its official website.

The issuance will be used to finance the country’s budget deficit. State-run banks are the top purchasers of the government debt instruments.

Last week, the CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to leave interest rates on hold for the fourth time in a row in 2021.

In November 2020, the MPC lowered the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation by 0.5% to 8.25%, 9.25%, and 8.75%, respectively.

In June 2020, the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, issued a decision to establish a unit at the Egyptian Tax Authority to follow up on the collection and supply of taxes on returns of T-bills and bonds.

In May 2020, Egypt secured a $2.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the rapid financing instrument (RFI).