Interest rates remained depressed in the fixed income market as the system remained awash with liquidity. However, the
replacement of the excess Cash Reserves of the Banking sector held by the CBN with tradable 90-days Treasury Bills at 0.50%p.a. led to a modest improvement in yields, which had fallen to a low of 0.0215%, 0.09% and 0.15% for the 91 days, 182 days and 364
days respectively at the Primary Market Auction (“PMA”) held on 25 November 2020. Thus, despite the continued oversubscription at the last PMA held on 30 December 2020, stop rates closed
marginally higher at 0.035%p.a., 0.50%p.a. and 1.21%p.a. for the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenors respectively.
The fixed income market witnessed series of Corporate
Commercial Papers (“CPs”) during the month as Corporate entities took advantage of the low yield environment to finance their businesses. Corporates such as Total Nigeria Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc as well as FCMB Plc raised over N60b in CPs.
