Offering EGP 4 Bln Treasury Bills on Saudi’s Announcement about Aid

Ministry of Finance will offer EGP 4 billion ($662 million) of three- and nine-month treasury bills as Saudi Arabia said it would this month start “implementing” an aid package agreed on almost a year ago.

The average yield on the three-month securities rose three basis points to 13.938 percent and nine basis points to 15.616 percent on the longer notes at the last sales. Egypt will seek bids for EGP 1 billion in the shorter-term notes and 3 billion pounds in nine-month bills.

Saudi Arabian aid, part of a package of about $4 billion announced in July 2011, is being discussed by officials from both countries and will be implemented in the “coming few days,” the kingdom’s ambassador to Cairo Ahmed Qattan said on Al Arabiya television May 3. Qattan returned to Cairo yesterday after he was recalled more than a week ago following protests outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy after the arrest of an Egyptian human rights activist in the kingdom.

The yield on the Egypt’s 5.75 percent dollar bonds due in 2020 retreated three basis points, or 0.03 of a percentage point, to 6.89 percent on May 4. That’s the lowest level in three weeks. The Egyptian pound, subject to a managed float, strengthened less than 0.1 percent to 6.0438 a dollar, Bloomberg reported.