Egypt has raised $1 billion after reviving its global sukuk programme amid the ongoing regional uncertainty.
The three-year sukuk was fully subscribed by sharia-compliant Kuwait Finance House through private placement, the finance ministry said in a statement.
Sukuk are sharia-compliant investment certificates whereby investors receive periodic profit payments, similar to interest, from asset-backed income such as rent or business revenue, and also receive the principal repaid at maturity. As such, sukuk are similar to bonds.
This marks the second sukuk under Egypt’s $5 billion Islamic financing programme, following a $1.5 billion issuance in February 2023, which carried an 11 percent yield.
Proceeds from the new sukuk will be used to settle a $1.5 billion Eurobond that matures this month, Reuters reported, citing data from the central bank.
The finance ministry reaffirmed its plan to reduce external debt linked to the general budget by $1 billion to $2 billion during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, with early indicators suggesting strong progress towards the target.
This month Ashraq News, an Arabic financial portal, reported that Cairo was reportedly planning to issue the first tranche of the EGP25 billion ($504 million) local sovereign sukuk issuance in the third quarter of 2025.
Last month the International Monetary Fund said the Egyptian government should move forward with plans to sell state assets and work towards “decisively reducing the role of the public sector in the economy.”
The IMF and Egypt entered a four-year agreement in December 2022 that was slated to yield $3 billion of loans for the struggling nation.
That commitment was increased to $8 billion in March 2024 as currency volatility and disruptions to Suez Canal shipping further destabilised the Egyptian economy.
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