CAIRO: The Central Bank of Egypt will issue 9.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($604.3 million) in treasury bonds to finance the country’s budget deficit, Arab News reported.

The T-bonds will be issued in coordination with the Finance Ministry.

In a statement posted on its website, the central bank said the value of the first offering is 8 billion pounds for two years. The value of the second offering is one billion pounds for five years and the value of the third offering is 500 million pounds for a period of 10 years.

The government borrows through bonds and treasury bills and government banks are the largest purchasers of these financial instruments.

The Ministry of Finance estimated the financing gap for the state’s general budget during 2021/22 at around 1.06 trillion pounds, compared with 997.733 billion pounds during the last fiscal year, an increase of 6.31 per cent, which will be financed through borrowing and issuance of securities.

Egypt had received $2.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt decided to keep the overnight deposit and lending rate and the central bank’s main operation rate unchanged at 8.25 per cent, 9.25 per cent, and 8.75 per cent, respectively.

Last month, the committee announced that the interest rate would be fixed for the seventh time in a row this year.

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