CBN to raise N823.4bn from treasury bills sale in Q1

…Lifts FX market with fresh injections The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will raise the total sum of N823.43 billion through the sales of treasury bills in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019. The CBN disclosed its 2019 Nigerian Treasury Bills Issue programme for the first quarter of the year which was posted on its website. The apex bank said the bills which would be a rollover, would range between three months and one-year papers. They include the 91-day bills worth N51.46 billion, 182-day bills of N164.92 billion and 364-days bill worth N607.05 billion. The apex bank also said that N985.93 billion worth of treasury bills would mature the same period. They are in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day paper worth N59.02 billion, N248.84 billion and N678.06 billion respectively. The CBN sells treasury bills twice a month to help government fund its budget’s deficit. The country issues treasury bills regularly as part of monetary control measures to help banks manage their liquidity and control the money supply. Meanwhile, the apex bank has continued its intervention in the inter-bank sector of the Foreign Exchange market by injecting another sum of $210 million into the forex market. In the forex trading on Tuesday, the CBN injected the sum of $100 million in the wholesale segment of the market in addition to the sum of $55 million each in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisible sectors. The Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, disclosed these on Tuesday and reiterated that the Bank was unrelenting in its resolve to sustain liquidity in the forex market as well as maintain stability there. Okorafor stressed that the CBN’s continued intervention was aimed at ensuring that the Bank meets the requests of genuine customers in the various windows of the market. On the Bank’s restriction of access to forex for some 42 items, he said the policy would continue, mainly as it was significantly boosting local production of items on the list. He disclosed that the Economic Intelligence Unit of the CBN was working closely with relevant government agencies to checkmate any attempt to flout the policy. Meanwhile, the United States Dollar, at the rate of $1 for N358 in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market on Wednesday.