Financing or re-financing one or more eligible green projects

Executive Summary

On September 29, 2020, Egypt issued the first sovereign green bond in the Middle East and North Africa. The five-year green bond was initially announced for $500 million at a coupon of 5.75%, but as it was more than seven times oversubscribed, the government increased its denomination to $750 million at 5.25%. The final interest rate is lower than Egypt’s benchmark conventional bond and achieved the lowest 5-year coupon for Egypt ever, and second lowest USD coupon for Egypt since 2016. The final order book included 220 accounts, including 16 new first-time USD bond investors and 40 green or ESG-focused investors. The bond was based on Egypt’s Sovereign Green Financing Framework, supported by the World Bank and verified by Vigeo Eiris. Proceeds will go to a variety of mitigation and adaptation projects. Examples include the cairo monorail, El-Dabaa desalination plant, and a 250MW windfarm in the Gulf of Suez.