CAIRO: Egypt and Morocco are among 13 countries included in the new FTSE Russell Frontier Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Series, which tracks local currency bond markets.
The other countries included in the index at launch are Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Vietnam, FTSE Russell said in a statement on Tuesday.
The market value of bonds in the index at the beginning of June was $414.8 billion and with a weighted average coupon of 9.98 percent, it said. Market inclusion will be reviewed semi-annually in March and September.
Egypt’s inclusion in the index will attract about $4 billion in new investments into its government securities market, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said in a statement.
The nation has 80 bonds represented in the index, for a maximum 10 percent weighting allowed for each country, said Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kujok.
In April, Egyptian government bonds were added to a watch list to join JPMorgan Emerging Market Bond Indexes within the coming six months.
Egypt may issue the first sovereign sukuk in its history at the beginning of the new fiscal year, with a value of up to $2 billion, Maait told Al Arabiya on Wednesday.
