The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday, held two auctions to sell Treasury Bills worth N286.8 billion, as the financial regulator moves to tighten liquidity on the money market.
The debt sale reduced the level of the Naira’s liquidity in the money market and pushed up the overnight interbank lending rate to 15 percent, up from 6.7 percent where it closed on Thursday.
The sale was followed by an additional auction of N85.78 billion worth of 305-day Treasury Bills at 18.60 percent.
Traders said around N205 billion matured open market operation bills were repaid on Thursday, which initially forced down the cost of borrowing among commercial lenders, but this was reversed following the auctions on Friday.
