The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offered a total of N95.681 billion debt instrument at its Nigerian treasury bills primary market auction held wednesday.The results of the auction seen at the end of trading showed that the fixed income instrument was over-subscribed by 59 per cent, as total demand was put at N161.385 billion. However, the central bank allotted only the total amount it had offered.

A breakdown of the treasury bills auction showed that for the 91-day bill, whereas the CBN offered a total of N10 billion, total subscription stood at N20.707 billion. Also, for the 182-day bill, while the regulator offered a total of N17.600 billion to investors, total subscription recorded was N28.819 billion.

For the 364-day debt instrument, whereas total subscription stood at N111.859 billion, the regulator offered a total of N86.080 billion.

The stop rates dipped across all tenors. While the 91-day bill closed at 2.20 per cent, lower than the previous rate of 2.6 per cent; the 182-day bill also closed lower at 3.2 per cent, from 3.4 per cent; while the 364-day bill closed at 4.3 per cent, lower than 4.6 per cent.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), otherwise known as the benchmark interest rate at 13.5 per cent.

The apex bank also left both the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Liquidity Ratio unchanged at 27.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

The MPR is the rate at which the CBN lends to commercial banks and often determines the cost of borrowing in the economy.