Nigeria to raise 173 bln naira in Treasury bills today

Nigeria plans to raise 173 billion naira in short-dated treasury bills at an auction on Wednesday, in its bid to reduce excess liquidity in the banking system, the central bank said.
The treasury bill issuance is part of efforts by the central bank to curb speculations on the local currency and help ensure exchange rate stability in the economy.
At today's auction, the central bank plans to raise 39 billion naira in the three month tenor paper, 48 billion naira of the six months paper and 86 billion of the one year debt, using the Dutch Auction System.
The bill settlement will be on September 14, while result of the auction will be made public later today.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy has proposed 2.36 trillion naira budget deficit for this year and expected to fund around half of it from borrowing from local market.
Already, the government debt office is currently on road show to market about 100 billion naira in its debut Islamic bind, sukuk as part of measure to raise cash to plug its budget gap.