Egypt aims to issue dollar-denominated Eurobonds worth $6 to $7 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year that begins in July, finance minister Amr El Garhy said on Wednesday.

Egypt this week raised $2.46 billion in a euro-denominated bond sale with maturities of eight and 12 years at rates of 4.75 and 5.625 percent respectively.

As part of a drive to plug its budget deficit and boost dollar holdings, Egypt also sold $4 billion in dollar-denominated bonds in February.

Egypt will not need to issue any more Eurobonds until the end of 2018 at least, Deputy Finance Minister for Capital Market Operations Khaled Abdelrahman said on Tuesday.

Abdelrahman’s comment came a day after Egypt raised $2.46 billion in a euro-denominated bond sale with maturities of eight and 12 years at rates of 4.75 and 5.625 percent respectively.

“There was a lot of interest from investors on our euro-denominated bonds yesterday … Investors see that economic reforms in Egypt are going well,” he said.

Monday’s bond issuance attracted an overall 7.5 billion euros in orders from 350 investors from 35 different countries.

“More than 70 percent of orders came from Europe, while 10 percent came from the U.S. and the rest from the Gulf,” Abdelrahman said.

Egypt also sold $4 billion in dollar-denominated bonds in February, as part of a drive to plug its budget deficit and boost dollar holdings.

Source english.alarabiya.net