Egypt expects debt to be “Euroclearable” by November, minister says

A view of the city skyline and the River Nile from the Cairo Tower in the capital city of Cairo, Egypt on December 5, 2019. REUTERS / Amr Abdallah Dalsh

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CAIRO, April 27 (Reuters) – Egypt expects its domestic debt to be “Euroclearable” and open to more foreign investors by November, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Tuesday .

Egypt signed an agreement to create a cross-border link with Euroclear, Europe’s largest securities settlement chamber, in 2019.

In a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce, Maait said Egypt also expects to join JPMorgan’s GBI-EM investment index in a listing that could boost its local currency bond markets.

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Egypt and Ukraine have been indicted for joining the widely followed index and expect to receive a decision within the next six months.

Maait presented details of Egypt’s debt management strategy, which includes reducing interest payments on debt as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) to 6.9% by 2023/24, from 8 , 8% this exercise.

This year, 35.1% of government spending went to interest payments on its debt. The government aims to reduce this figure to 29.6% by 2023/24.

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Reporting by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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