Nigeria’s interbank money market halted trading for the fourth consecutive day on Friday as commercial lenders made provision to pay for N45 billion of bonds auctioned on Wednesday, draining cash from the banking system.
“All we have is indicative quotes of between 15-20 percent for Open Buy-Back (OBB) and overnight lending, no trading is taking place for now,” one dealer said.
Nigeria sold the naira-denominated bonds maturing in 2020 and 2034 at an auction on Wednesday, and payment was due to be effected on Friday.
There were some deals done at 15 percent on overnight placement late on Thursday, traders said.
Liquidity in the interbank money market shrunk last week, since the government directed commercial lenders to transfer government revenues to a single account with the central bank as part of a drive to fight corruption and aid transparency.
Cash balances held with the central bank by commercial lenders further dropped to N161 billion on Friday from N173 billion on Thursday, and were likely to decline further after payment for the bond purchases, traders said.
Source : BusinessDay