CBN Mops up N78b as Interbank Rate Falls to 10.83%

By Dipo Olowookere

The interbank rate on Tuesday went down by 6.48 percent to close at 10.83 percent from 17.31 percent as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted an OMO exercise to soak up excess liquidity in the system.

Also, during trading yesterday, the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate fell by 5.90 percent to settle at 10.17 percent from 16.07 percent.

This came on the back of inflows from FAAC payment of N310 billion, which boosted system liquidity to N290 billion from N60 billion.

During the OMO sale, the apex bank mopped up N77.8 billion from the sale of treasury bills to investors at the secondary market.

The CBN sold N10.47 billion worth of the 86-day bill at 11.90 percent, N12.25 billion worth of the 198-day bill at 13.50 percent, and N55.07 billion worth of the 282-day bill at 13.50 percent.

At the close of transactions, the secondary market for treasury bills finished slightly bullish.

Today, the central bank is selling fresh T-bills at the primary market, with N225 billion on offer.

“We do not anticipate any significant change in stop rates from previous levels. We also expect bullish sentiments to persist in the secondary market, on the back of the significantly robust system liquidity levels,” analysts at Zedcrest Research noted.