Egypt promotes government bonds on international tour
Egypt is marketing its treasury bonds in Europe and Asia, though some analysts worry that expanding foreign debt will negatively affect the local economy.
Egypt is shopping its government bond offerings abroad, seeking better terms than it's been able to get domestically.
The government has started sending representatives to meet with potential major investors in Asia and Europe, starting in South Korea. Cairo hopes to lower the yields it must pay to investors to secure money to pay off maturing debts, and wants to increase financial liquidity and investment flow into the country.
Last month, the Ministry of Finance canceled domestic bond auctions for the second time this year because banks were demanding high returns of around 18.5%. The ministry, which wants rates of 14.7%, said the high yield demands were triggered by declining investor appetite for emerging-market assets.
The initiative started Oct. 7 in Seoul, and will travel to other key Asian markets, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Japan in the second week of November. It will then move on to Europe, visiting Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany.
