Egypt is set to enter JP Morgan’s emerging market government bond index starting on Jan. 31, the investment bank said in a research note.
The North African country is eligible to join the index with an estimated weight of 1.8 percent with 14 Egyptian pound government bonds worth a total of $26 billion, JP
The bonds have an average yield of 14.9 percent and a duration of 2.9 years.
The U.S. investment bank also said that 90 percent of the investors it surveyed in consultations supported the inclusion.
The announcement comes after almost three years of discussions between the Egyptian government and JP Morgan.
In April, JP Morgan announced that it had placed Egypt and Ukraine under review for inclusion in the EM index on the back of their steady improvement in liquidity and access to onshore government bond markets on the foreign investor level.
Local currency bond markets would benefit to the tune of $1.4-$2.2 billion if Egyptian bonds won inclusion to the index, JP Morgan’s analysts said back in April.
Egypt was removed from the JP Morgan index in 2011 after failing to meet the requirements.
The re-inclusion will make Egypt the second country in the Middle East and Africa to join the index, after South Africa.
