By Udeme Ekwere with agency report

Thursday, 10 Feb 2011

The Debt Management Office on Wednesday said it planned to raise N66.5bn in sovereign bonds.

Reuters reported that the instruments would be issued in three-year and five-year bonds next week, in the DMO’s second debt auction of the year.

The debt office said it would sell N36.50bn in the three-year paper and N30bn in the five-year debt instrument.

“All the instruments are re-openings of previous issues, and the results of the auction will be available the next day,” the statement said.

The debt office had announced plans by the Federal Government to raise a total of N126.50bn in three- and five-year billion worth of paper in February and March.

It said that the Federal Government planned to offer N126.5bn in three- and five-year sovereign bonds in February and March.

According to information posted on its website, the debt office planned to issue a total of N66.5bn in February. It added that it would offer N36.5bn in three-year and N30bn in five-year bonds.

The debt office further said that it would issue N30bn each in three-year and five-year paper in March.

“All issues are re-openings except the new issue of N30bn in three-year bonds for March. This calendar is subject to adjustment as the 2011 appropriation bill is yet to be passed,” it noted.

Also, the Central Bank of Nigerian sold N70bn in 91-day and 182-day treasury bills at auction early this month as part of measures to tighten money supply and curb inflation in the economy.

According to the apex body, it sold N30bn in 91-day bills at a marginal rate of 7.34 per cent and N40bn in 182-day bills at 9.25 per cent.

The CBN said the offer was slightly lower than the marginal rates on the previous issues.

It had issued 91-day paper at 7.59 per cent and 182-day debt at 9.45 per cent at its previous auction in mid-January.

The naira had depreciated further against the dollar as the CBN was unable to meet demand at its auction.

 

Source: Punch