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After China and Japan, Egypt could turn to the Indian capital markets next year:The Finance Ministry is looking to raise USD 500 mn in a bond issuance in India in 2024, Minister Mohamed Maait told CNBC Arabia in an interview yesterday (watch, runtime: 11:47). The bond would be denominated in INR, and mark the first time Egypt has issued debt in India.
ICYMI- Maait said last month that we are looking to raise FX from India’s capital markets todiversify our sources of funding during a meeting with the Indian ambassador to Cairo. This comes a few weeks after local-currency issuances in China and Japan, which raised the equivalent of USD 980 mn in CNY- and JPY-denominated debt.
Reports of a 2024 green bond issuance might no longer be rumors: The ministry hopes to raise anywhere between USD 500 mn and USD 1 bn via an issuance of “sustainability bonds” next year, Maait told the broadcaster on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai. With green bonds, blue bonds, social bonds, and others all falling under the rubric of “sustainable bonds,” the type of debt the minister was referring to wasn’t immediately clear. Chatter in the local press last month claimed that the government is considering a second green bond issuance in 2024.
A fresh sukuk issuance is still in the ministry’s plans: Maait reiterated plans for a second sukuk issuance next year though didn’t offer any details about the ministry’s thinking. A ministry source told us in October that it could take to market a USD 1 bn issuance in 1Q 2024. Egypt raised USD 1.5 bn in its maiden issuance in February this year.
Remember: Higher global interest rates and a prolonged currency crisis have all but shut Egypt out of Western capital markets, prompting Egypt to turn to more new sources of finance.
** We’ve got Panda and Samurai bonds, but what to call an INR-denominated bond? We’re open to suggestions.
T-BILL ROLLOVER-
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has sold USD 990 mn of USD-denominated treasury bills at an average yield of 5.149% yield in an auction yesterday to refinance existing debt, according to CBE figures. The yield is 55 bps higher than the maturing bills sold in December 2022.
