The Central Bank of Nigeria is planning to auction N100bn in bonds with tenors ranging from three years to 20 years at the auction next Wednesday, the Debt Management Office has said.
The DMO said on Thursday that it would offer N15bn in three-year, N50bn in 10-year and N35bn in 20-year debt.
All the bonds are re-openings of previous issues.
Meanwhile, Stanbic IBTC, the Nigerian unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank, is also planning to raise N30bn in Tier II capital, according to a report on its website.
Reuters reported that the Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC, Sola David-Borha, confirmed the capital raise during an analysts’ conference call on Thursday but said the actual amount would depend on market conditions and regulatory guidelines. She did not provide a timeline.
David-Borha said the mid-tier lender was aiming for a 15 percent loan growth for the second-half of 2014, targeting business customers, after it grew loans 18 per cent in the first-half.
Meanwhile, the naira fell by 0.58 per cent to a five-week low against the dollar on Thursday, on renewed dollar demand after a recent rally on the local currency.
The local unit closed at N162.70 to the greenback, a level last seen on July 2, and weaker than Wednesday’s close of N161.75. It initially touched a low of N162.90 during mid-day trade.
Traders said the month-end dollar sales from oil companies that provided support for the naira in the past three weeks had ceased so far.
“We are expecting that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation will come into the market soon to sell dollars and this should help calm the market,” one dealer said.
The NNPC supplies a substantial amount of the dollar flows in the country. Traders are also expecting an inflow from offshore investors participating at a local debt auction next week.
The naira had fallen by 0.43 per cent against the dollar on the interbank market on Wednesday after importers brought forward their obligations to take advantage of a recent rally in the local currency.
The naira closed at N161.65 naira to the dollar, weaker than the N160.95 that it closed the previous day.
The naira had on Monday firmed to an almost three-month high against the greenback.
Traders said the local unit of Eni sold $20m to some lenders on Wednesday, but it was not sufficient to support the naira.
Dealers anticipate a dollar sale by the NNPC any time soon to help to stem the slide in the local currency.
Most of the energy companies operating in the country buy the local currency at the end of the month to fund domestic obligations.
The naira had closed unchanged against the dollar on the interbank market last Wednesday, after two days public holiday to mark the Muslim festival.
Month-end dollar sales by some energy companies have continued to provide support for the local currency in the last two weeks, keeping it within the band of N161.50 to N162 against the dollar.
“We see the naira stable around the present band in the near term, with more dollars expected from some energy companies,” one dealer had said.
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