The CBN raised N615.8 billion in its latest treasury bill auction which happened on May 21. This represents a slight uptick from the N598.3 billion T-bills sold on May 7.
For the 91-day bills, the bank offered N50 billion, however, subscriptions worth N72.56 billion were received, with N71.67 billion allotted at a stop rate of 18 percent. The bank offered N100 billion of the 182-day bills. However, it recorded a 46.8 percent undersubscription, with N46.84 billion in subscription. The bank allotted N41.13 billion at a stop rate of 18.5 percent.
For the 364-day bills, the bank offered N350 billion; however recorded a 300 percent oversubscription, with offers worth N1.052 trillion received. With a stop rate of 19.56 percent, it sold about N503 billion.
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Year-to-date, the CBN has sold about N7.896 trillion worth of T-bills, just slightly above the N7.867 trillion sold during the corresponding period in 2024. However, in 2025, the bills were issued at slightly lower rates than seen in 2024. In March 2025, T-bills were issued at some of the lowest rates seen since February 2024.
In 2024, the CBN sold treasury bills worth about N13.3 trillion, with interest rates ranging from 2.4 percent to 22.93 percent. That year, the Federal Government had a projected deficit of N9.18 trillion, with a targeted revenue of N19.6 trillion. However, according to the budget implementation report of H1 2024, there was a N1.097 trillion revenue shortfall in the first half of the year.
Brent crude is trading roughly $10 below the N75 per-barrel benchmark set in the 2025 budget, and daily output remains under the 2.06million bpd target. As a result, government revenues are likely to fall short, driving a heavier reliance on Treasury-bill issuances. Yet the elevated interest rates on those bills pose their fiscal challenge.
