UPDATE 2-Egypt dollar bonds soar, currency stress eases after multi-billion UAE deal
Egypt's international bonds soared and its currency forwards strengthened on Monday, extending a sharp rally after it signed a $24 billion investment deal with the United Arab Emirates centred on a real estate development on the Mediterranean coast. Through the deal announced on Friday, Abu Dhabi sovereign investment fund ADQ will pay $24 billion for the development rights on the pristine Ras El Hekma peninsula on Egypt's north coast, as well as converting $11 billion of deposits already in Egypt for "prime projects" across the country. Analysts and investors say the deal has lessened Egypt's immediate economic problems, which are rooted in a chronic shortage of foreign currency, but that prospects for structural reforms and longer-term economic health remained in doubt.
