The
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold
about N400 billion ($1.27 billion)
of Treasury bills on Friday, lifting the interbank lending rate up to 12
percent, traders said.
The
bank sold N82 billion in 181-day Treasury bills at 18 percent and N309 billion
at 18.6 percent, mopping up liquidity from the money market and pushing up the
cost of borrowing among commercial lenders.
"We
have some major placers quoting about 20 percent for overnight placement,
but most takers are not willing to borrow at that rate,"
one dealer said, adding that the rate eventually settled around between 10
percent and 12 percent at 1328 GMT.
Markets
had opened on Thursday with a surplus liquidity of about N467 billion due to an
injection of matured Treasury bills until the CBN later debited banks for the
purchases of N302.4 billion in primary market Treasury bills.
Traders
said the central bank on Friday further moved to reduce liquidity
with the sale of open market operations bills, which fetched returns above the
inflation rate. Nigeria
raised 302.4 billion naira at Wednesday's Treasury bills auction,
more than the 242 billion planned due to strong demand for the one-year debt,
while payment for the purchased was debited from commercial lenders'
accounts on Friday.
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