UPDATE 1-Egypt's sovereign dollar bonds extend rally after UAE investment deal
Oggi 10:22 - RSF
(Updates bond price, add analyst comment, background)
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Egypt's sovereign dollar bonds jumped nearly 3 cents on Monday, extending Friday's sharp rally after it signed an investment deal with the United Arab Emirates that would bring $35 billion to the indebted country in the next two months.
Longer-dated dollar-denominated bonds maturing enjoyed the biggest gains, with the 2025 up as much as 2.8 cents to trade at around 74.3 cents - its highest level in just over a year, Tradeweb data showed.
Egypt's $24 billion sale of the development rights of pristine Mediterranean real estate to the United Arab Emirates has lessened its immediate economic problems, analysts say.
But they say they are now waiting to see if the government will seize the opportunity to take reforms to stabilise the economy in the long term.
"The inflows will help plug Egypt's external funding gap in the near term, pave the way for a more orderly currency devaluation and catalyse IMF funding," said Patrick Curran at research group Tellimer.
"The longer term impact is more mixed as it further solidifies Egypt's model of growth driven by megaprojects and a material portion of the funding will likely flow out of the country over time via imported inputs."
The spread of Egypt's international hard-currency bonds over safe-haven U.S. Treasuries - indicating the risk premium demanded by investors - tightened to 674 basis points - their lowest reading in nearly two years, data from JPMorgan showed.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, when he announced the $24 billion project, told a news conference that Egypt remained committed to reaching a new agreement with the IMF expected to expand an existing $3 billion loan.
"There are very, very, very few steps left until we conclude an agreement with the IMF," he said.
Barclays said in a note that the deal should bring forward a top-up of the IMF programme and an adjustment to the currency.
"The unusual size of Ras el-Hikma's front-loaded transfer points to the UAE's unwavering commitment to Egypt's macro stability," it said, referring to the location of the development.
Data on currency forwards showed markets were trimming back expectations for the size of devaluation ahead. Twelve month non-deliverable forward FX rate strengthened to 52.9 to the dollar on Monday from 64.55 on Thursday.
The pound last traded at 30.85 to the dollar.
(Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Patrick Werr, editing by Alun John)
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