Egypt Government Bonds

The fixed income market in Egypt is not very diversified in terms of issuers and investors. The Egyptian main market is the EGX (government-owned). It is the only registered securities exchange in Egypt and operates a multi-location platform with floors in Cairo and Alexandria. Alongside its large equity market, the EGX operates a primary and secondary bond market, although activity on the latter is limited. By the end of December 2011, there were 19 listed housing bonds and 41 treasury bonds on the exchange. The fixed income market in Egypt is dominated by government issuance. The Ministry of Finance publishes indicative daily bond yields using four different maturity bonds: 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2018. The longest available maturity is 2025. Treasury bills are auctioned on a weekly basis. The Government of Egypt also issues development bonds and housing bonds. These instruments raise financing capital for specific projects On the corporate side, the unfavourable market conditions resulted in no listings or de-listings in 2011, leaving making for five fixed rate and one floating rate corporate listings on the exchange. However, there were two listings of securitised bonds in 2011, bringing the category total to 10 by the end of the year. The number of corporate issues available in Egypt is small and fairly short-dated. The corporate bond market has issues with maturity up to eight years.