The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) started on Sunday trading treasury bills (T-Bills) on the secondary market, according to a press release.

The first day closed with a trading value of EGP 33.8 billion ($1.1 billion) generated through 109 transactions.

Trading of T-Bills on the EGX is the result of months of coordination with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), and the Egyptian Central Securities Depository (ECSD).

The Egyptian stock market started trading on T-Bills through the Government Fixed Income Trading System (GFIT), which was developed by the EGX in 2021 for trading on treasury bonds.

The GFIT provides traders with more detailed information on prices, bids, and orders.

The system is linked to Egyptian banks to enable traders on the secondary market to invest in government debt instruments.

In the primary market, the firms sell new stocks and bonds to the public for the first time. In the secondary market, however, these securities are traded by investors without involvement from the issuing companies.  

The CBE usually issues treasury bills and bonds on behalf of the Ministry of Finance to finance the country's budget deficit.

Egypt's budget deficit accounted for six percent of its GDP, which stood at EGP 9.8 trillion ($ 318.23 billion) in the FY2022/2023, according to Minster of Finance Mohamed Maait.

The country's debt-to-GDP ratio was estimated at 95.6 percent for FY2022/2023.

The government has increased its budget deficit estimate to 6.9 percent of GDP for FY2023/2024, which started on 1 July.