By Wasiu Alli and Eniola Olatunji

The Central Bank of Nigeria is expected to auction N216.09 billion treasury bills on Thursday while the naira reverses to below N1,600 a week after the monetary authority raised the benchmark interest rate for the 12th straight meetings.

The Central Bank of Nigeria will be auctioning N216.09 billion NT bills on Thursday.

It will be auctioning N16.59 billion for the 91-day tenor, N51.34 billion for the 182-day tenor, and for the 364-day 148.15 billion.

At the last Treasury Bill auction, one-year Treasury Bill yielded 28.36 percent, the highest this year, fueled by an interest rate hike.

This was a 0.86 percent increase from 26.96 percent at the last auction and higher than 26.01 percent yields that have been since March.

The stop rate for the one-year NT-Bills hit a record 22.1 percent at this auction.

The increase in yields has further narrowed the gap in real return on the NT-Bills to a negative of 5.83 percent from a negative of 7.23 percent at the last auction.

The stop rate on the risk-free instrument is well below the July inflation rate of 34.19 percent as price pressures remained prevalent in Nigeria.

CBN announced its plan to issue N1.56 trillion in Treasury bills during the third quarter of 2024, matching the amount set to mature between June and August this year.

The amount to be offered in Q3 is 4.87 percent lower than N1.56 trillion issued in the second quarter of 2024.