Egypt raised $3.75bn in a bond issuance on 9 February. The bond was four times oversubscribed, receiving bids of $16.5bn, Egypt’s Finance Ministry says. The sale included five-year notes valued at $750mn with a yield of 3.875%, ten-year notes worth $1.5bn at a yield of 5.875% and 40-year notes valued at $1.5bn at a yield of 7.5%.

This is Egypt’s second international bond issuance of the 2020-21 financial year which began on 1 July, following its first ever ‘Green Bond’ issued in September last year (MEES, 2 October 2020). With Egypt’s economy feeling the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic it has had to seek assistance from international lenders, borrowing more than $12bn for 2020, with $8bn of that coming from the IMF alone (MEES, 11 December 2020). (CONTINUED - 290 WORDS)