The tender was cancelled on Monday because the interest rates required were "not within the logical limits", although it was covered 1.6 times, the ministry said in a statement.

It did not elaborate on the details of the interest rates required. The ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Later on Tuesday the ministry announced the sale of five-year treasury bonds worth 3.5 billion pounds at an interest rate of 17.65 percent.

Egypt aims to reach an average interest rate on government debt instruments in the current 2018-2019 budget of about 14.7 percent compared with 18.5 percent in fiscal year 2017-2018, which ended on June 30.

Egypt's funding needs in the 2018-2019 budget are about 714.637 billion pounds, of which 511.208 billion are in the form of domestic debt instruments and the rest are external financing from the issuance of bonds and an IMF loan.