CBN Sells N26b OMO Bills as Overnight Rate Drops to 19.25%

By Dipo Olowookere

On Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold 202-day bills worth N26 billion via the open market operations (OMO).

The apex bank had offered to sell N20 billion worth of 86-day bills, but ended with no sale. Also, N50 billion of the 202-day bills were put for auctioning, but only N26 billion was sold at a stop rate of 17.8 percent, according to data obtained by Business Post on the website of the central bank.

The overnight rate closed depreciated yesterday to 19.25 percent from 20 percent on Monday, while the Open Buy Back rate slumped to 17.17 percent from 18 percent on Monday.

Business Post reports that on Monday, the apex bank sold OMO bills worth N8.8 billion.

Details of the sale showed that the 115-day bills maturing February 22, 2018 were sold for N6.3 billion, while the 192-day bills maturing May 10, 2018 were sold for N2.5 billion.

A treasury bill auction exercise will take place today via the primary market with the CBN offering N100 billion for sale.