Aiming to strengthen the naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised 230.60 billion naira ($733 million) at an auction May 3, 2017, data released today revealed. This amount is about 80 billion naira more than the institution planned to raise through the process. 

The funds were raised via the sale of a one-year treasury bill worth 178.6 billion naira with a yield of 18.81% (more than the 17.26% inflation rate recorded in March). Moreover, six-month bills and three-month bills (totaling about 52 billion naira) were also sold at yields or 17.26% and 13.6% respectively.

Let’s recall that the Central Bank sold treasury bills twice a month in order to finance budget deficit and reduce inflation. In the present case, it is part of the apex bank’s various intervention which aim to get the economy out of recession. Indeed, the CBN has since the beginning of the year, injected more than $4 billion in the interbank market, to boost foreign exchange reserves and attract investors.