Investors’ return plunges banks’ share of Egyptian T-bills, bonds

CAIRO - 18 January 2022: Treasury Bills and government bonds represented 34.4 percent of the banking sector’s total assets at the end of June 2021, according to the central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

The CBE noted that this share declined on an annual basis compared to 39 percent in June 2020 due to the return of investors.

The Financial Stability Report 2020 indicated that the total assets of the banking sector in Egypt rose to LE 6.2 trillion by the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

According to the report, financial investments and treasury bills represented 42.1 percent of the total assets of the banking sector during the fiscal year 2019-2020, compared to 36.1 percent during the previous fiscal year.

The CBE attributed the increase in the share of financial investments and treasury bills to the banking sector’s containment of the temporary exit of foreign investors from the market for government treasury bills, after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, which contributed to the stability of government securities returns in the local operation.

With the return of investors, the share of treasury bills and government bonds in the total assets of the banking sector decreased to 34.4 percent at the end of June 2021, compared to 39 percent in June 2020.