Nigerian Bank Nigeria Nigerian Stock Exchange – FG Sells N130b Worth Of Treasury Bills

Source: Compass, March 14, 2011

The Federal Government sold N130 billion ($840 million) in 91-, 182- and 364-day treasury bills on Thursday as part of measures to control money supply in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy.

The regulator said on Friday it had sold N50 billion each in the 182-day and 364-day instruments at marginal rates of 8.41 percent and 9.09 per cent respectively, and 30 billion naira in the 91-day bills at 6.8 per cent.

The yield on the 182-day paper was higher than at the previous auction last month, when it was offered at 8.25 percent. The yields on the 364-day and 91-day were down slightly from 9.10 per cent and 6.85 percent previously.

Total subscription stood at N310.79 billion compared to N364.6 billion last month, but the regulator stuck to its initial offer.

Dealers said N70 billion worth of papers matured this week, which means only 60 billion naira actually left the system for the central bank’s vaults.

Africa’s top energy producer issues treasury bills regularly as part of measures to curb inflation, control money supply and help lenders manage their liquidity.

The central bank wants to get headline inflation, which stood at 12.1 per cent year-on-year in January and has been in double digits since 2009, back down below 10 per cent.

Nigerian Bank Nigeria Nigerian Stock Exchange