Egypt plans to raise $581 million in T-bills

Egypt plans to raise 3.5 billion pounds ($581 million) from the sale of treasury bills (T-bills) amid falling yields as the country nears an agreement to clinch a $3.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Finance Ministry seeks to sell 3.5 billion pounds in nine-month notes today and 1 billion pounds in seven-year bonds tomorrow, central bank data on Bloomberg show. The average yield on six-month notes declined five basis points, or 0.05 per centage point, to 14.82 per cent at a sale on March 15, while the yield one-year securities fell two basis points. A technical team from the International Monetary Fund is due today in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian officials about the loan, Finance Minister Momtaz El-Saieed said March 13. Economists such as Raza Agha of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc have said the loan may encourage donor countries to increase their support of Egypt, which lost more than 50 per cent of its international foreign reserves after last year’s revolt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. The yield on Egypt’s 5.75 per cent dollar bonds due April 2020 tumbled 23 basis points last week to 6.45 per cent on March 16, the lowest since Nov.18, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.