Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will offer treasury bills (T-bills) worth EGP 20 billion on Thursday on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.

The first tranche of the T-bills will be offered through 182-day notes valued at EGP 5.5 billion, while the second tranche is worth EGP 14.5 billion and will be offered through 364-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 government debt instruments.

Earlier in August, the CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to leave interest rates on hold for the sixth time in a row.

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

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