Cairo - Egypt
received about $1 billion in foreign inflows since the central bank raised
interest rates by 200 basis points last week to curb inflation.
The country had $448 million in “foreign investment inflows”
on Thursday and $400 million on Sunday, state-run news agency MENA reported,
citing Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer. He didn’t specify the form for the
investments, but Egypt
holds weekly Treasury bill sales on those days.
“These investment figures are considered historic,” Amer
said, according to MENA. They reflect the 'success' of the central bank’s
monetary policy, which takes into consideration conditions of local and international
markets, he said.
Foreign currency inflows into Egypt’s debt and equity markets
have been steadily growing since the central bank removed restrictions on the
currency and raised interest rates in November before securing a $12 billion
loan from the International Monetary Fund. Foreign holdings of Egyptian T-Bills
were about 120 billion pounds ($6.63 billion) as of May 23, according to the
Finance Ministry’s public debt chief, Samy Khallaf.
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On Thursday, the Ministry of Finance said it sold more T-Bills
than it targeted to accommodate an uptick in demand from foreign investors. In
Sunday’s sale, the average yield on 9-month notes rose 77 basis points to 20.48
percent, and the average yield on 3-month notes rose by 1 percentage point to
20.52 percent.
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