Naira remains static as CBN sets for N253bn T-Bills auctioning

The Nigerian Naira maintained firmness against the United States of America Dollar at the parallel segment of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange market, staying unchanged at N346 to a Dollar at the black market.

Meanwhile, against the British Pound Sterling, the Naira appreciated, trading at the rate of N507. The local currency, however, slumped against the European Single Currency, Euro, closing at the rate of N448.

In other developments, Nigerians requiring foreign exchange for Business and Personal Travel Allowances, tuition, medical fees and others can access from a 55 million dollars allocation injected into the segment of the forex market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday.

A breakdown of the amount, released by the CBN acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Isaac Okorafor in a statement in Abuja, showed that the bank offered 100 million dollars as wholesale interventions.

He said that the bank also allocated 55 million dollars through the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Forex window.

Meanwhile, the CBN on Wednesday conduct its second Primary Market Auction (PMA) of treasury bills in 2018. During the exercise, which holds Thursday, the apex bank will offer N252.9 billion worth T-Bills to investors.

A breakdown of the exercise showed that the CBN will offer 91-day bill worth N6.1 billion, 182-day bill valued at N69.6 billion, and 364-day bill worth N177.2 billion.

Treasury bills are short-term debt instruments issued by the Federal Government through the Central Bank to provide short term funding for the government. They are sold at a discount and redeemed at par.

Twice a month, the CBN issues treasury bills to help the government fund its budget deficit, support commercial lenders in managing liquidity and curb inflation.

To buy treasury bills from the primary market, investors have to approach their banks requesting for a form.