Nigeria interbank rates climb as central bank drains liquidity

Nigeria's interbank lending rates climbed 25 basis point to an average of 10.75 percent on Friday, after funding for forex purchase and issuance of treasury bills curbed market liquidity.
The central bank retired about 198 billion naira ($1.22 billion) of matured open market operations (OMO) bills on Thursday, but rolled over 179 billion naira as fresh issuance, dealers said.
Lenders have been unable to access their cash balance with the regulator for more than two months due to a system glitch.
"The market is seen inching up next week as the central bank is expected to issue new OMO bills to further drain liquidity," one dealer said.
The open buy-back climbed to 10.75 percent from 10.5 percent last week, 1.25 basis points below central bank's benchmark interest rate of 12 percent.
vernight placements also rose 50 basis point to 11 percent from 10.5 percent last week.