Central Bank of Egypt data showed today that the average yield on treasury bills for six months and a year continued to rise in today’s auction.

The average yield on 182-day treasury bills rose to 19.50 percent from 19.43 percent in the previous auction, while the average yield on 364-day bills rose to 19.30 percent from 19.25 percentin the previous bid.

Egypt sold EGP 8.250 billion ($459.35 million) of 182-day treasury bills today, despite buying orders reaching about EGP 11.049 billion, while selling EGP 13.388 billion of one year bills despite the presence of buying orders for about EGP 15.014 billion.

"There is a high demand today in the interbank market amid tight supply of bills, so we found high buying bids in the auction", a trader in the capital market told Reuters.

Foreign investments in government debt instruments have reached $17.1 billion since the floatation of the Egyptian currency in November 2016 until the end of July 2018. This is lower than the $23.1 billion recorded at the end of March 2018.

Egypt's funding needs in the 2018-2019 fiscal year are about EGP 714.637 billion, of which EGP 511.208 billion should come from domestic debt instruments and the rest will be from external financing through bond issuances and the IMF loan.