By Aduragbemi Omiyale
FGN savings bonds worth N2.1 billion were allotted to retail investors in the Nigerian capital market by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
This information was disclosed by the debt office in a notice issued on Wednesday and seen by Business Post.
Last week, the agency opened subscriptions for the papers for low-income earners in the country. The exercise was on for one week.
Two tenors of two years and three years were offered for sale during the bond sale for this month and from the details of the exercise, investors showed a strong appetite for the longer maturity.
The DMO said it allotted N530.7 million to 484 successful subscribers of the two-year papers at 11.04 per cent and allotted N1.6 billion to 620 subscribers of the three-year notes at 12.04 per cent.
A few years ago, the debt office created the FGN savings bonds for low-income earners after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopped the sale of treasury bills to the category of investors.
Before the action, investors were able to buy T-bills for as low as N10,000 but the apex bank raised the minimum subscription to N50 million, making it impossible for most low-income earners to invest in the asset class.
In order to fill this vacuum, the DMO came up with the savings bond and started selling in the first week of the new month. Prior to the advent of the retail bond, the debt office only sold sovereign bonds to investors with the minimum subscription at N50 million.
