CBN Opens N700bn Treasury Bills Auction for August
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on behalf of the Debt Management Office (DMO), has announced a N700 billion Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTB) auction, the first for August 2026.
According to the invitation to tender released by the apex bank, the auction will take place on Thursday, August 6, 2026, while bids will be submitted electronically through the CBN’s S4 Web Interface between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 5.
The offering follows the same structure used in recent Treasury Bills auctions, with a larger allocation going to the one-year bill, reflecting strong investor demand for longer-term government securities.
Breakdown of the offer
The Treasury Bills will be offered in three maturities:
91-day bill: N100 billion
182-day bill: N100 billion
364-day bill: N500 billion
This brings the total amount on offer to N700 billion.
Investors must submit bids in multiples of N1,000, with a minimum subscription of N50.001 million.
Licensed Money Market Dealers are permitted to submit multiple bids either for themselves or on behalf of institutional and retail investors.
The auction results are expected to be announced on August 5, while successful bidders must complete payment by 11:00 a.m. on August 6.
How the auction works
The Treasury Bills will be issued using the Dutch auction system, where investors state both the amount they want to buy and the yield they are willing to accept.
Bids offering lower yields are considered first and are more likely to receive full allocation, while higher-yield bids may be reduced or rejected once the offer size has been exhausted.
The process will be conducted electronically through the Scripless Securities Settlement System (S4), the CBN’s platform for issuing and settling government securities. While only authorised Money Market Dealers have direct access to the platform, other investors participate through these licensed dealers.
The CBN said the electronic system is designed to improve transparency, reduce manual processing and make the primary securities market more efficient.
Strong demand expected
The August auction comes after a particularly active month in Nigeria’s fixed-income market.
Data from the CBN’s Fixed Income Dashboard showed that securities worth N1.24 trillion were traded during the final week of July alone.
Open Market Operation (OMO) Bills accounted for N672.48 billion, representing more than half of the total traded value.
Across the month, Treasury Bills recorded N6.98 trillion in transactions from 3,700 trades, while Federal Government Bonds posted N5.87 trillion across 3,343 trades. Sukuk instruments recorded N69.11 billion from 23 trades.
The auction also follows the CBN’s aggressive liquidity management strategy, which saw it mop up about N7.18 trillion from the banking system through Open Market Operations in July.
At the last Treasury Bills auction held on July 29, the CBN allotted about N1.25 trillion, despite initially offering N700 billion, after strong demand for the 364-day bill.
Market analysts will be watching the August auction to see whether yields on the one-year Treasury Bill continue their recent decline as the CBN maintains its liquidity tightening measures.
