Nigeria to raise 117bn naira treasury bills at auction

LAGOS: Nigeria plans to sell 117.17 billion naira ($371.97 million) in short-dated treasury bills at an auction on Nov 30, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The bank said it will sell 45.85 billion naira in three-month papers, 18 billion naira in six-month bills and 53.32 billion naira in one-year bills. Payment for the purchases would be made on Thursday.

Nigeria issues treasury bills to fund its budget deficit, manage banking system liquidity and curb rising inflation.

The 2016 budget deficit was estimated at 2.2 trillion naira, of which around 900 billion naira is expected to come from local borrowing.