The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) increased spot rates on Nigerian Treasury bills by 146 basis points during Wednesday’s primary market auction, following a period of tepid subscription across shorter-dated instruments.
The revised rate on the 364-day Treasury bills has now moved above Nigeria’s 16.05% inflation rate by 145 basis points, aligning with the apex bank’s decision to maintain the Monetary Policy Rate at 27%.
At the latest auction, the CBN offered N700 billion worth of Treasury bills across the standard 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day maturities.
Auction data revealed that total subscription marginally exceeded the offer, signalling investors’ growing preference for higher-yielding naira assets despite ongoing disinflation. Total bids amounted to approximately N775 billion against the N700 billion offered.
Demand was heavily skewed toward longer tenors, with nearly 90% of bids targeting the 364-day bills. The CBN opened N100 billion worth of 91-day paper, but the offer attracted only N44.17 billion in bids. A total of N42.80 billion was allotted at a spot rate of 15.30%, unchanged from the previous auction.
For the 182-day tenor, subscription came in at N33.38 billion compared with the N150 billion on offer. The CBN allotted N30.36 billion at a steady rate of 15.50%.
The bulk of investor activity concentrated on the 364-day bills, which drew N697.29 billion in bids against the N450 billion offered. The CBN eventually allotted N636.46 billion at a new spot rate of 17.50%, up from 16.04% at the last auction.
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