13 Dec 2021

Egypt’s Finance Minister announced that Egypt is eligible to join the JP Morgan Emerging Markets Government Bond Index by the end of January 2022. Egypt will join with 14 government bonds valued at a total of USD26bn, and should have an estimated weight of 1.85% in the index. This will give further credibility to Egyptian sovereign bonds, increasing foreign and local investments in the fixed-income instruments. It is expected that this inclusion will bring in at least USD1bn in new investments in government-issued securities, and contribute to reducing the cost of Egypt’s public debt. Egypt will be the second country from the Middle East and Africa to join the index alongside South Africa.

On a related note, Egypt will also join the JP Morgan ESG Index (ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance) concurrently with an estimated weight of 1.18% based on Egypt’s green bond issuance back in October 2020.

(Source: Zawya (English), al-Ahram (English) (Arabic), Business Today Egypt (English), Egypt Today (English), Arab News (English), National Council for Media, al-Maal, Mubasher, Amwal al-Ghad, al-Shurouk, al-Watan, al-Dustour, Akhbar al-Youm, Sada el-Balad, Masrawy, al-Sharq Business, Middle East News Agency, al-Sharq al-Awsat, Sputnik Arabic, RT Arabic)