** #2 Maait confirms Egypt is considering RMB-, JPY-denominated bonds next year: Finance Minister Mohamed Maait confirmed our exclusive report from Sunday, telling Bloomberg in an interview yesterday that Egypt is considering JPY- and RMB-denominated bond issuances in 1Q2019, alongside USD offerings, in a bid to diversify its sources of funding and attract new investors to Egypt’s debt market. “We want to diversify our debt instruments and currencies. We aim to have a basket of bonds in several currencies,” the minister said. The size and exact schedule for the sales is yet to be determined, as “Asian countries have certain requirements in the bonds’ issuance prospectus and we should meet these requirements before issuing the bonds,” he added, without elaborating.

Our sources had told us that he government may be looking to raise as much as USD 4-7 bn from the issuances. We had also heard that the government could be looking to sell up to USD 20 bn in FX-denominated debt between now and 2022. Maait reported “very positive” sentiment on Egypt after meeting with investors in Seoul earlier this month.