Nigeria interbank rate unchanged for second straight week

Nigeria's central bank gov, Emefiele

Nigeria's interbank lending rate was unchanged for the second straight week at an average of 10.50 percent on Friday, supported by ample liquidity as the central bank held back issuance of fresh open market operation (OMO) bills.
The central bank has not issued fresh OMO bills for the past one week despite further boosting liquidity in the banking system by paying off about 114 billion naira ($704 mln) in matured treasury bills on Thursday, dealers said.
Dealers did not have access to their credit balances with the central bank owing to a system glitch at the regulator, but say excess liquidity had kept rates down.
The open buy-back (OBB) rate was flat at 10.50 percent, 1.50 percentage points below the central bank's benchmark interest rate of 12 percent.
All 20 analysts polled by Reuters in the past week expected the central bank to keep rates steady at 12 percent at its next policy meeting on Tuesday.
The overnight placement rate was also unchanged at 10.50 percent, the same level as last week.
Dealers expect lending rates to ease further next week with a liquidity boost from government revenue disbursements to its agencies set to hit the banking system by Monday.