The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) successfully raised N1.06 trillion through its Treasury Bills auction on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, with the one-year bill stop rate climbing to 17.70%, up 36 basis points from the previous auction.
Total subscriptions reached N2.03 trillion against an offer size of N700 billion, producing an oversubscription ratio of approximately 2.9 times.
Heavy Demand for Long-Dated Bill
The 364-day bill once again attracted the strongest interest, drawing N1.86 trillion in bids (3.7 times oversubscribed) and receiving an allotment of N935.32 billion. Bids ranged from 16.55% to 20.32%.
– The 182-day bill was undersubscribed, attracting only N29.94 billion against a N100 billion offer and receiving N13.76 billion at a stop rate of 16.50% (unchanged from the prior auction).
– The 91-day bill was oversubscribed with N146.54 billion in bids, allotted N115.38 billion at 16.30% (up 2 basis points).
The auction resulted in a net withdrawal of N269.36 billion from the banking system.
Context of the Auction
This marks the third consecutive auction in which the CBN increased the one-year stop rate, reflecting its ongoing tight monetary policy stance aimed at managing liquidity and anchoring inflation.
The strong demand, particularly for the longer-tenor instrument, shows continued investor appetite for high-yielding government securities amid the prevailing interest rate environment.
The CBN plans to maintain an aggressive borrowing pace throughout the third quarter as part of its N5.8 trillion Q3 issuance programme. The latest auction underscores the government’s strategy of tapping domestic debt markets to finance the 2026 fiscal deficit while extending debt maturities to ease future refinancing pressures.
