The Egyptian government is considering approaching the international debt capital markets to raise as much as $2bn through a sovereign offering, its finance minister has said.

The North African nation, which is struggling to maintain its foreign currency reserves, could tap the market with a $1.5-$2bn Eurobond offering in the coming weeks, Amr el-Garhy told an Egyptian television channel.

Cairo launched a triple-tranche bond to raise $4bn earlier in 2017. The bond was twice the size of the funding target given when it started investor meetings in mid-January.

The senior unsecured five-, 10- and 30-year bonds were issued under the Egypt’s global medium-term note programme. Egypt paid investors 6.125 per cent for $1.75bn note maturing on 31 January 2022. The $1bn 10-year tranche offered 7.5 per cent, while the 30-year $1.25bn issue offered 8.5 per cent interest.

Egypt’s cabinet on 19 April approved raising the limit of the maximum amount of dollar bonds the country could issue on international markets by $2bn. The ceiling of international dollar issuances to fixed income investors was raised from $5bn.

Egypt’s Ministry of Finance is trying to secure additional funding in the wake of rising interest rates in the domestic debt market and hope to shore up the balance of cash reserves at the country’s central bank.

Egypt has been seeking to diversify its funding options and has mainly relied on loans and foreign grants, especially, from its oil-rich allies Saudi Arabia, The UAE and Kuwait in the GCC. The country has agreed a $12bn loan programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support plans for sweeping economic reforms. However, it still suffers from dollar shortage, which has affected its ability to import goods.

The government, earlier in April, also announced plans to issue a $1bn sukuk by the end of the current financial year, according to a Ministry for Public Treasury statement at the time.

The Egyptian central bank in November broke away its dollar peg and floated Egyptian pound, which it hopes will alleviate the currency crisis it has been facing.