The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pulled out about N3.31 trillion currency notes from the banking system through the OMO auction on October 6, against about N2.17 trillion OMO bills due for payment to banks.
The latest OMO sale, which netted about N1.14 trillion has added up to the CBN’s efforts to mop up excess liquidity in the banking system.
The News Chronicle reports that investors bid up to N3.51 trillion against N2 trillion OMO papers on offer with huge demand for the longer dated 182 day paper.
The CBN sold N2.67 trillion 182-day treasury bills at 16.92 percent stop rate and N637.20 billion 147 day bills at 17.22 percent.
Even though the shorter-dated 147-day bill offers a higher yield of 17.22 percent, investors were lured by the attractive price of the 182-day bill which accounted for about 81 percent of the total N2.67 trillion bills on offer.
The overnight lending rate also climbed 25 basis points to 22.2 percent, according to Cordros Securities.
The CBN sold N17.51 trillion OMO bills in September, against N10.89 trillion bills due for payment, a net withdrawal of about N6.62 trillion from the banks’ system.
The CBN’s liquidity crunch is in spite of the 350 basis point hike in the Monetary Policy Rate to 23 percent in September.
