Egypt’s debt likely to become ‘Euroclearable’ by end-2023

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Egyptian Ministry of Finance is aiming to settle its cross-border link with Belgium-based clearinghouse Euroclear before the end of 2023, finance minister Mohamed Maait told Al Borsa News on May 30th.

Maait noted that the government had fulfilled most of Euroclear’s requirements since signing the initial agreement in 2019 to make domestic Egyptian debt available to a larger number of foreign investors.

Since the signing, Egypt has been working to meet the clearinghouse’s requirements, including setting up a central securities depository in addition to a number of technical, logistical, and administrative terms.

In February 2022, the minister revealed that local Egyptian debt could not be made ‘Euroclearable’ until the second half of 2022 due to unresolved technical issues between the government and the clearinghouse.

The ministry was originally expecting a final agreement in the fourth quarter of 2021, which was then pushed into early 2022 as talks dragged on.