Foreign holdings of Egyptian pound T-bills drop by more than half in March

Foreign investors sold more than half of their Egyptian pound treasury bill (T-bills) holdings in March, according to a central bank data as the coronavirus pandemic led them to pull money out of emerging markets.

Foreign customers held the equivalent of 149.3 billion Egyptian pounds ($9.5 billion) by the end of March from 310.65 billion at the end of February, data released on Thursday on the central bank website showed.

On April 9, Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told Al Arabiya that foreign investment in Egyptian treasuries ranged between $13.5 billion and $14 billion. This would include foreign holdings of treasury bonds, which the central bank doesn’t provide any figures.