(Ecofin Agency) - Egypt plans to issue $2 billion of samourai bonds, Reuters reported on January 13, 2019, citing official sources.

Samourai bonds are yen-denominated bonds issued by foreign countries to big Japanese investors.

Sources cited by Reuters indicated that the Samourai bonds are part of a large euro-bond issuance programme ($7 billion).

Egypt’s finance minister, Mohamed Maait, recently announced that he received the government’s green light for an issuance comprised between $3 billion and $7 billion. However, he did not specify the currency in which those bonds would be issued but, it is worth mentioning that some of the country's officials previously declared that the yen and yuan are some of the currencies in which the future international borrowings would be denominated.

The funds raised during the Samourai bond issuance will be used to refund the debts of national oil company General Petroleum Corp (EGPC), the said sources indicated. They further revealed that the previous week, the vice minister of finance Ahmed Kouchouk, went to Japan and Singapore for an introductory roadshow.

Let’s note that Egypt’s foreign debt was $92.64 billion at the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2018. For the current fiscal year, it needs to borrow $10.51 billion to refund the foreign debt.