Economy
T-Bills Yields Tick Higher as CBN Mops up N553b
By Dipo Olowookere
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumed the sale of treasury bills via Open Market Operations (OMO) on Thursday after earlier putting the exercise on hold for days.
At the market yesterday, the appetite of investors for the instrument, especially for the one-year tenor, was visible, resulting in the bills being oversubscribed.
The apex bank had offered OMO bills worth N400 billion to market players, but a total subscription valued at N552.99 billion.
During the exercise, the central bank offered N100 billion worth of the 182-day bill to market players, but received subscriptions worth N80.62 billion, which it eventually sold with the rate cleared at 12.50 percent.
Also, N300 billion worth of the 364-day paper was offered to investors with subscriptions valued at N472.37 billion received and eventually sold by the CBN at 13.50 percent.
The amount raised by the central bank was enough to soak excess inflows from N268 billion maturing bills yesterday.
Business Post reports that the 12.50 percent rate for the 182-day note and 13.50 percent for the 364-day bill were higher than what were offered during the previous day’s primary market auction by the bank.
During the PMA held on Wednesday, the 182-day bill was offered at 12.10 percent, while the 364-day instrument went for 13.33 percent.
However, there are expectations that the yields will “close the week on a relatively calm note, with buying interests relatively quietened by the significant OMO sale yesterday,” according to analysts at Zedcrest Research.
Meanwhile, the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (OVN) rates shot above single digits to close on Thursday at 11.67 percent and 12.58 percent respectively as the CBN mopped up N553 billion off system liquidity via an OMO sale.
System Liquidity was consequently estimated at N120 billion positive, with inflows form OMO maturities, N268 billion, providing some cushion for rates in the market.
The rates are expected rates to remain relatively unchanged on Friday as there are no significant outflows expected.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
