Government raises N475.67 billion in March bond auction

The Debt Management Office (DMO) said it raised N475.67 billion from the March 2024 Federal Government (FGN) bond offer, slightly more than the N450 billion it had planned to raise.

The auction was conducted on March 18, 2024 and the result was announced yesterday on X, with DMO disclosing an overwhelming interest from investors, demonstrating confidence in Nigeria’s economic stability. It added that investors showed a preference for longer-tenured bonds.

The amount raised in March is slightly higher than what was raised in January, about N418.197 billion and far less than what was raised in February, N1.49 trillion.

The Debt Office had targeted to raise N2.5 trillion in February.

The DMO had planned to raise N150 billion through a new three-year FGN March 2027 bond and N150 billion each from the re-issuance of the 18.5 per cent FGN February 2031 seven-year paper as well as 19 per cent FGN February 2034 10-year paper.

According to the auction results, of the N298.6 billion subscription on the 19 percent FGN February 2034 10-year paper, the DMO allotted N275.85 billion aside from a non-competitive allotment of N113.2 billion at a stop rate of 20.45 per cent with bids ranging from 17.5 to 25 per cent.

It had raised N151.928 billion from the new issue of a three-year FGN March 2027 bond at a stop rate of 19.94 per cent with bids, ranging from 17 per cent to 25 per cent.

Also, it raised N47.886 billion from the 18.5 per cent FGN February 2031 7-year paper at a stop rate of 20 per cent.

In February, the debt office had raised two new bonds hoping to raise N1.25 trillion each from FGN February 2031 seven-year and FGN February 2034 10-year bonds.