The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to offer N550 billion in Treasury bills for subscription this week, providing investors a chance to participate in a primary market auction scheduled for Wednesday. As outlined in the CBN’s financial calendar, the issuance will be spread across three standard maturities: 91 days, 182 days, and 364 days.
Strong investor interest in the offer is expected to result in a large oversubscription, according to market analysts. This is consistent with current patterns wherein the attractive yields have maintained a robust demand for government securities.
Additionally, N162.17 billion worth of Treasury bills are set to mature across different tenors this week, further driving demand. With interest rates expected to decline slightly, analysts anticipate a marginal drop in market yields.
At the last primary market auction, the CBN initially offered N650 billion in Treasury bills, but investor appetite was much higher, with total subscriptions reaching N1.92 trillion—more than double the offer.
However, the CBN chose to sell only N830.44 billion to regulate money supply. Stop rates for the 91-day bill remained unchanged at 17.00%, while rates for the 182-day and 364-day bills dropped slightly to 17.75% and 17.82%, respectively, compared to the previous rates of 18.00% and 18.43%.
Targeting both domestic banks and international portfolio investors, the CBN also held an auction for Open Market Operations (OMO) bills in a linked action. Strong demand resulted in N1.88 trillion in total subscriptions, with the bank offering N600 billion in 355-day and 362-day tenors. The CBN ultimately sold N1.68 trillion, with stop rates dropping to 19.19% and 19.45%.
