Mohamed Maait added that Egypt “looks forward to entering the Japanese financial markets, in new issuances during the next stage.”.
Samurai bonds are bonds issued by foreign parties from countries or companies in the Japanese market, denominated in the currency of the yen, according to Japanese regulations, which attract investors from Japan, and most of the samurai bond issuers are from Europe and the United States.
Experts and analysts believe that Egypt’s tendency to issue “samurai bonds” comes as a desire to attract additional liquidity to the stock market, expand the currency basket and reduce risks related to public debt.
And on Saturday, Maait stressed that the launch of the first Egyptian bonds in the Japanese capital markets “is a culmination of the efforts of the Ministry of Finance in raising the efficiency of debt management, diversifying sources and financing tools, expanding the investor base, taking into account geographical diversity, and optimally exploiting any opportunities in global markets.”
He pointed out that this “contributes to reducing the cost of financing and implementing development projects to create job opportunities, and improve services provided to citizens and their standard of living,” according to the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram.
During the celebration of the launch of the first Egyptian bonds to be issued in the Japanese capital markets, the Egyptian Minister of Finance said that “this offering is a new step in the Egyptian-Japanese cooperation, and its value amounted to 60 billion Japanese yen, equivalent to about half a billion dollars.”
He continued, “We succeeded in obtaining an appropriate pricing for this issue, as the return amounted to 0.85% annually for a period of 5 years, which makes it more distinguished in terms of its low rate compared to the rates of returns of international issues.”.
He added, “We succeeded in attracting many Japanese investors through these bonds, which were very popular, which indicates their high confidence in the solidity of the Egyptian economy and its ability to achieve its goals. This issuance is characterized by specifications of a special nature due to the difference of the Japanese market from other international markets, Because the Japanese investor is more selective in his investment policies and more willing to invest in the debt instruments of countries with a high credit rating..
The Egyptian Minister of Finance stated that “the number of companies operating with joint Japanese or Egyptian-Japanese investments in Egypt has reached 87, with total investments approaching one billion dollars, in various aspects of activity, whether in the field of engineering industries, transportation services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, finance, etc.” These are activities that support the economy.”
Courtesy By: Egypt issues its first sovereign sukuk before the end of the fiscal year – Gifizo News