CAIRO: Yields on one-year and six-month treasury bills dropped at auctions on Thursday as the Finance Ministry sold all amounts on offer, data from the central bank showed.
The average yield on Egypt's 182-day bill fell to 13.683 percent, compared with 13.750 percent at the last sale on March 24.
The yield on the 364-day bill dropped to 14.231 percent, against 14.321 percent at its last similar auction on March 24.
The Finance Ministry sold all 4.5 billion Egyptian pounds of 182-day treasury bills that it had allocated and all 5 billion pounds of 364-day bills.
Yields have been rising at treasury auctions since the central bank raised interest rates by 150 basis points at a monetary policy meeting on March 17.
In an attempt to curb the cost of borrowing, the government decreased the amount of long-term debt by dropping the 7-year and 10-year bonds from its issuance calendar and increasing the amounts of shorter-term bills offered, bankers said.
"There is a rush as everyone wants to lock the position and buy with high yields," one banker said, adding that a surge in demand from bankers had caused the drop in yields at Thursday's auction.
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