340bn naira now repaid

NIGERIA’S central bank repaid a total of 340 billion naira (R12.72bn) worth of treasury bills yesterday instead of rolling them over, in a move to lower government borrowing costs. They included 131.4bn naira worth of treasury bills issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO), while the balance was in open market bills by the central bank. The DMO has said it will repay treasury bills maturing on December 14 and December 21, totalling 198.03bn naira. Yields on treasuries held up across the board at around 10 percent yesterday. They fell to 7 percent after the repayment plan this week. Yesterday’s pay-off increased banking system credit to almost 500bn naira, lowering overnight rates to 1 percent. The DMO sold 108.66bn naira worth of naira-denominated bonds maturing in 2021 and 2027 on Wednesday. – Reuters