Nigeria’s central bank said on Thursday it had sold more treasury bills than originally planned at an auction after it lured demand for one-year debt with yields above inflation.
The bank raised N253.8 billion at an auction on Wednesday, N40 billion more than it had offered to sell.
It offered the one-year bill at 18.55 percent to raise N166.3 billion, against a yield of 18.49 percent at its last auction and higher than February’s inflation rate of 17.78 percent.
The central bank has been selling bills with yields below inflation in recent months to curb borrowing costs as it aims to fund half of this year’s forecast budget deficit of N2.36 trillion ($7.50 bln) through the domestic debt market.
Yields on the six-month bill were unchanged from the last sale at 17.20 percent to fetch N48.5 billion, while a N39.0 billion bill due in three month was sold 13.60 percent against 13.65 percent previously.
Total demand stood at N216.38 billion against N312.44 billion at the last sale.
On Thursday, the debt office also issued more bonds than it originally planned at an auction after slowing inflation rate helped it offer debt at lower yields.
The central bank issues treasury bills twice a month to finance the government’s budget deficit and help lenders manage liquidity and curb inflation.
