Egypt sells reopened bonds worth 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds

Egypt sells reopened bonds worth 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds

Egypt's central bank sold 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($414.24 million) in five and seven-year bonds on Monday, the same amount it had initially sought, the finance ministry said.

June 12, 2012 11:14 by Reuters

Egypt’s central bank sold 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($414.24 million) in five and seven-year bonds on Monday, the same amount it had initially sought, the finance ministry said.

The bank sold 1.5 billion pounds of reopened five-year bonds, 1 billion pounds of reopened seven-year bonds.

The average yield for the five-year bonds was 16.62 percent, from a range from 16.51 to 16.67 percent. While the seven-year yield was 16.92 percent in a range from 16.87 to 16.94 percent.

The five-year bonds which mature on April 10, 2017, carry a 16.55 percent coupon. The seven-year bonds which mature on April 3, 2019, carry a 16.85 percent coupon.

Settlement for the bonds will take place on June 12. Government bonds are sold by the central bank on behalf of the Finance Ministry.

Egypt’s uprising hammered the economy by chasing away tourists and foreign investors. The state’s interim government has gone through more than half of the country’s foreign reserves and has been for months been negotiating a loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The state’s economy contracted by 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and flat-lined in the following three quarters.

($1 = 6.0352 Egyptian pounds) (Reporting by Mohamed Samir)