Central Bank to Open N700bn Treasury Bills for Subscription
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is scheduled to open Nigerian Treasury bills worth N700 billion across standard tenors at the primary market auction on Wednesday.
The authority plans to raise N150 billion from Nigerian Treasury bills maturing in 91 days and N50 billion from a short-term instrument maturing in 182 days.
To cap its total raise at the primary market auction, the CBN will open N500 billion in Treasury bills for subscription by yield-seeking investors.
Based on analysts’ consensus, strong subscription is anticipated at the midweek auction due to excess liquidity level in the financial system.
Past auction results have shown that investors have a preference for one-year Treasury bills. Hence, demand is anticipated to follow a similar trend, leading to successive downward repricing of spot rates.
The CBN kept the interest rate unchanged at 26.50% despite the acceleration in the inflation rate over the last two consecutive months. Analysts maintain a tight rate pricing outlook as the authority continues to scale back expensive short-term borrowing.
At the last auction held in May 2026, the CBN offered a total of N700.00 billion across the trio instruments, slightly lower than the N750.00bn offered at the previous auction.
However, investors’ appetite remained strong, with subscriptions totalling N1.989 trillion. As with the previous PMA, robust system liquidity played a major role in spurring higher subscriptions.
Rates on the 91-day maturity increased slightly to 15.95% from 15.945%, while the rates on the 182-day were steadied at 16.14%. The spot rate on the 364-day declined to 16.149% from 16.15%.
