The Madbouly government is looking to secure some USD 3 bn in financing from bond issuances through the end of the year, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said yesterday during Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s privatization presser (more on that in Privatization Watch, above).

REMEMBER- Egypt has only tapped the international debt markets once in the past 15 monthsafter the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine and tighter global financial conditions all but locked us out of the international debt markets and raised concerns in some quarters about Egyptian debt. That sole issuance was the Finance Ministry’s maiden sukuk issuance in February of this year, which was c.4x oversubscribed.

Samurai bonds next? Maait said that the government is working on a plan to move forward with its second JPY-denominated bond issuance, without providing further information. We made our maiden samurai bond debut in March 2022, when the government sold USD 500 mn of the JPY-denominated bonds.

More fresh paper in the pipeline: The African Development Bank and Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank are set to provide ins. coverage for our maiden USD 500 mn CNY-denominated panda bond issuance, which will be used to fund sustainable development projects.The green panda bonds may not go to market until early next fiscal year, a Finance Ministry official previously said.

OUR FIRST LOOK AT FY 2022-2023 RESULTS-

Maait also gave an overview of some preliminary economic figures for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June.

The budget deficit came in lower than targeted: The country’s budget deficit widened to 6.2% by the end of the fiscal year 2022-2023, up from 6.1% a year before. The Finance Ministry had been expecting the deficit to come in at 6.4%.

The better-than-expected deficit figure is “proof that the ministry can control public finances despite economic shocks,” Maait said, pointing to the interest rate hikes and exchange rate fluctuations seen last fiscal year as well as government interventions to offer more social support.

And our primary surplus came in higher than expected: The country recorded a primary surplus of 1.6% (EGP 157 bn) during last fiscal year, up from 1.3% a year earlier, Maait said (watch, runtime: 5:19). The government had been expecting the primary surplus to inch up to 1.5% in FY 2022-2023.

Higher tax revenues + higher spending: Tax revenues recorded EGP 1.2 tn during the last fiscal year, up 23% y-o-y in what Maait called an “unprecedented” increase. Spending rose 16.3% y-o-y to record EGP 2.1 tn.

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