CAIRO: The addition of Egypt to the Financial Times Russell bond index, which tracks local currency bonds issued in emerging and semi-emerging markets, could see up to $4 billion flow into the country’s securities market, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said the move was part of the government’s continuous efforts to reduce the cost of public debt in the country and increase liquidity in the securities market.
He said he expected the inclusion of Egypt on the new index would contribute to pumping about $4 billion in additional new investments into the Egyptian government securities market, including treasury bills and bonds.
Deputy minister of finance, Ahmed Kjok, said the new bond index currently contained bonds issued by 13 countries with a value of $414.8 billion, and Egypt was included in this index with 80 issues, representing the 10 percent maximum allowed for each country.
Nevin Mansour, adviser to the deputy minister of finance for financial policies, said that Egypt joining the JP Morgan watchlist for government bonds and the green bond index, on top of the latest addition, confirmed the country’s position on the global map of indices and would help to raise confidence among international financial institutions in the nation’s economy and the Egyptian government securities market.
