NBE’s Raises T-Bills Investments to EGP 78 Bln

National Bank of Egypt’s investment in treasury bills reached EGP 78 billion for the current fiscal year. Bills are with different maturities; 91,182,266,273 and 364 days and with returns ranging between 12.3 to 15.7%, familiar sources said.

NBE’s investments in treasury bills registered EGP 70 billion last December through 133 government auctions to finance the general budget deficit that reached EGP 144 billion, according to documents of which Amwal Al Ghad received a copy.

These treasury bills are paid by Ministry of Finance in installments. The first installment was due in last February and the last installment is due in next August 27^th. 91-day treasury bills are due in 6 installments, 182-day treasury bills are due in 24 installments, 200-day treasury bills are due in 32 installments and 300-day treasury bills are due in 51 installments.

182-day treasury bills due in June 26^th registered the highest return of 14.92%.

NBE is the largest dealer in secondary market of treasury bills in Egypt and its investments in this sector are expected to reach EGP 100 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.

NBE has decided to expand in investing in government debt instruments so as to finance the budget deficit that widened to EGP 144 billion as well as to invest the unused deposits as investments sharply retreated in Egypt after last year’s revolution.

Banks in Egypt are competing over treasury bills because of the decline in the volume of lending and the high return on treasury bills that exceeded 15% as the government is relying on local lending. This drives banks to raise returns on their savings instruments to 12%, so as to have the cash liquidity required for the next period.

NBE’s Investments in Treasury Bills: