T-Bills: CBN to borrow N952bn in three months

Oyetunji Abioye with agency report

The Central Bank of Nigeria is planning to borrow the sum of N952.04bn ($3.02bn) with new issues of Treasury Bills from September 15 to December 1, 2016.

In its latest TBs issuance calendar, the CBN said it would sell N264.47bn worth of three-month bills, N204.88bn of six-month bills and N482.69bn of one-year bills, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The Federal Government is expected to borrow around N900bn from the local market to bridge its budget deficit, which is estimated at N2.2tn in the 2016 budget.

According to the Debt Management Office, the Federal Government is also planning to borrow N120bn ($387m) in local-currency denominated bonds at an auction on September 14.

The DMO had on Tuesday said that it would raise N40bn each from debt maturing in 2021, 2026 and 2036, using the Dutch auction system.

All the bonds are re-openings of previously issued debt.

The CBN has said it is planning to borrow N1.77bn via Treasury Bills in the last three months of the year.

In its fourth quarter Treasury Bills issue programme released on Monday, the CBN said it would raise about N815.37bn, comprising 91 days, 182 days and 364 days debt instruments.

The nation’s overnight naira interbank lending rate had eased to 16 per cent on Friday, down from 20 per cent recorded the previous Friday.

This followed improved naira cash liquidity after the disbursal of July budgetary allocations to Federal Government agencies.

The Federal Government distributes revenues from crude exports and taxes among the three tiers of government every month.