CBN offers N900 billion at first week in October Treasury Bills auction 

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on behalf of the Debt Management Office (DMO), will offer N900 billion in Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTBs) on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, with the one-year instrument accounting for the bulk of the offer.

According to the auction notice, CBN is offering on behalf of the DMO N100 billion each in 91-day and 182-day bills, and N700 billion in 364-day bills, with settlement scheduled for tomorrow Thursday, October 8. This indicates that the public sector now prefers use of longer dated term debt instrument to shorter ones. 

The apex bank in the notice said that the indicative NTB issuance calendar will be released in due course. The quarterly programme outlines, among other details, how much the government plans to offer and how much of the old bills are expected to mature during the quarter, auction and maturity dates.

The auction is the first NTB sale of the fourth quarter 2026 and comes as the one-year stop rate sits at 15.89% at previous auctions, following a sustained decline in rates and the Monetary Policy Committee’s 350-basis-point reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate to 23.00%.

The 364-day bill accounts for N700 billion, or approximately 77.8%, of the total amount being offered at the October 7 auction. The shorter 91-day and 182-day instruments each account for N100 billion, representing about 11.1% apiece.

The structure maintains the DMO’s recent emphasis on the longer-dated Treasury bill, which has also attracted the bulk of investor demand at recent auctions. The total amount on offer is N900 billion across the three standard NTB tenors.

The 91-day bill has an offer size of N100 billion, while another N100 billion is allocated to the 182-day instrument. The 364-day bill has an offer size of N700 billion, representing more than three-quarters of the total auction.

Settlement is scheduled for October 8, while the Fourth Quarter 2026 NTB issuance calendar is expected to be circulated subsequently. The auction notice did not state the stop rates, bid limits or submission deadline, leaving the eventual pricing to emerge from the auction results.

The October auction comes after strong demand for the 364-day instrument at the last September 23 auction, when total subscriptions across the three tenors reached N4.23 trillion. The DMO eventually allotted N497.59 billion, with demand heavily concentrated at the long end.

The one-year stop rate has also declined steadily across recent auctions. The 364-day bill attracted N4.09 trillion in subscriptions on September 23, accounting for about 97% of total demand, while its stop rate declined 73 basis points to 15.89%. The 91-day and 182-day instruments were undersubscribed at 0.55 and 0.82 times their respective offer sizes, with stop rates declining to 15.50% and 15.80%.

The 364-day stop rate has fallen 146 basis points over four consecutive auctions from 16.84 % on September 2. The one-year rate is also 181 basis points below its third-quarter peak of 17.70% recorded on July 8. The DMO allotted approximately N8.14 trillion across eight NTB auctions during the third quarter, about 40.34% above the N5.8 trillion targeted for the period.

Liquidity conditions remain supportive of fixed-income demand entering the October 7 auction. From available data Investors submitted N12.14 trillion in bids at the final two September Open Market Operation auction against N3.4 trillion offered, even as rates on the instruments declined.

Banks also had more than N4.6 trillion placed at the CBN’s Standing Deposit Facility as of October 2, indicating substantial liquidity remained within the financial system. The larger N900 billion NTB offer provides additional capacity to absorb investor demand, particularly for the 364-day instrument.

The auction notice does not indicate whether the DMO could allot more than the N700 billion offered on the one-year tenor. The amount of Treasury bills maturing around the October 7 auction is not provided in the supplied information, so the net liquidity effect cannot yet be determined.

The auction results are expected to show whether the recent decline in stop rates continues into the fourth quarter.