Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday auctioned a total of N100 billion Treasury Bills through Open Market Operation (OMO) and also intervened at the interbank foreign exchange market by injecting $210 million to meet the needs of end users in various segments of the market.
The CBN offered $100 million to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment received the sum of $55 million. Customers requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others, were also allocated the sum of $55 million.
Isaac Okorafor, CBN’s acting director, corporate communications department, confirmed the figures and reassured the public that the bank would continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market in line with its desire to sustain liquidity and maintain stability.
He said the steps taken so far by the Bank in the management of forex was paying off, as reflected by reduction in the country’s import bills and accretion to its foreign reserves which stood at $46 billion as at Friday, March 9, 2018.
The CBN last Friday, injected the sum of $355.43 million into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
Meanwhile, the naira continued its stability in the forex market, exchanging at an average of N360/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Monday, March 12, 2018.
A breakdown of the OMO sales shows that N30 billion was offered for 87 days tenor at the rate of 12.6 percent. The offer, which matures on July 6, 2018, was undersubscribed by 51 million.
Also N70 billion was offered for 227 days tenor to be matured on October 25, 2018. It was oversubscribed by 88815.43 billion at the rate of 14.4 percent with 15.82 percent yield.
However, performance in the Treasury Bills market was mixed but largely bullish as the CBN held OMO auctions on 3 of the 5 trading sessions. Accordingly, average rates across tenors remained relatively stable shedding 3bps to close at 13.9 percent on Friday, analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited stated.
This week, an OMO maturity of N262 billion is expected to hit the system. Also, the CBN has a Primary Market Auction (PMA) scheduled this Wednesday, the analysts disclosed.
