Nigeria to raise nearly a billion dollars in naira treasury bill

Lagos - Nigeria plans to raise 245.18bn naira ($773.44m) worth of Treasury bills with maturities ranging between three months and a year on August 3, traders said on Tuesday citing a central bank Treasury bill calendar.

The central bank plans to issue 45.18bn naira in 3-month debt, 80bn naira of 6-month paper and 120bn naira of 1-year bills in a Dutch auction, they said.

Indicative rates for the auction are 16% for 3-month, 18% for 6-months and 18.5% for 1-year bills, one trader said. The auction's results will be published the day after the sale.

Yields on fixed income securities have been rising in recent months with the central bank mopping up naira liquidity to try to lure back foreign investors who sold naira assets following the plunge in the price of oil, Nigeria's economic mainstay.

The bank lifted interest rates by 200 basis points last week to 14% to help fight inflation, which hit a 10-year high of 16.5% in June.

The central bank was not immediately available to comment.

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