New Telegraph

CBN to issue N918.5bn treasury bills in Q4’20

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is to issue a total of N918.5billion worth of Treasury Bills (T-Bills) in the fourth quarter of 2020, N96.7billion more than the N821.8 billion it planned to raise in Q3’20. The apex bank stated this in its fourth quarter 2020 Nigerian Treasury Bills issuance programme calendar released yesterday.

A breakdown of the programme details shows that the CBN will, for the last three months of the year, issue T-Bills consisting of a total of N95.3billion for 91-day tenor, N113.4 billion for 182-day tenor and N709.8 billion for 364-day tenor. The CBN issues Treasury Bills twice in a month to help the Federal Government fund its budget deficit, managing liquidity in the system and curb inflation. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday released the framework for the implementation of the N250 billion intervention facility for the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP). Citing the industry’s “potential to engender rapid growth in Nigeria’s non-oil economy,” the apex bank said that the initiative, which will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR), is aimed at helping to stimulate investment in the gas value chain.

It also stated that the NGEP was introduced “to make Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) the fuel of choice for transportation and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), the fuel of choice for domestic cooking, captive power and small industrial complexes.

“Equally, gas-based industries, most especially the petrochemical (fertilizer, methanol, etc) are to be enabled to support large industries, such as agriculture, industrial applications, textile and so on.” According to the regulator, large-scale projects under the intervention facility will be financed under the Power and Airlines Intervention Fund (PAIF), in line with existing guidelines regulating the PAIF, while small-scale operators and retail distributors will be financed by the “NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) and / or any other Participating Financial Institution (PFI) under the Agribusiness/ Small and Medium and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AgSMEIS).”

Specifically, the CBN said that term loan for manufacturers, processors, wholesale distributors, will be determined based on the activity and must not exceed N10 billion per obligor, while the working capital for this group is a maximum of N500 million per obligor. For Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and retail distributors, the CBN said the term loan will be determined based on the activity and shall not exceed N50 million per obligor, adding that the working capital for such businesses is a maximum of N5 million per obligor. In addition, it stated that interest rate on the facility will be at not more than 5.0per cent per annum (all inclusive) up to 28th February 2021, but will revert to 9per cent per annum (all inclusive) from 1st March 2021. On the facility’s loan tenor and moratorium, the CBN said term loans for businesses such as manufacturers, processors and wholesale distributors, will have a maximum tenor of 10 years (not exceeding 31st December 2030) depending on the complexity of the project.

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