Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) says it has raised approximately N3.03tn from Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) savings bonds in the first eight months of this year.
The Punch newspaper analysis of the monthly FGN bond auction results between January and August 2025 said that the DMO offered about N2.13tn across short, medium- and long-dated bonds.
However, an appetite for long-dated bonds saw subscriptions hitting about N4.94tn in the period under review.
It noted that the DMO kept the monthly offerings to mostly two (new issuances and re-openings) except for January, when it offered three bonds, FGN April 2029, FGN February 2021 and FGN January 2035, with the interest rates at 19.30 per cent, 18.50 per cent and 22.60 per cent, respectively.
Compared to the same period of 2024, the amount raised was about 34.14 per cent lower, marking a decrease in borrowing from the domestic market.
In January, the local bonds market displayed a predominantly bearish tone, with sporadic interest across mid- to long-term maturities. The FGN bond auction offered N450bn in the first month. February 2025 began with cautious trading, with investors focusing on key maturities such as February 2031 and January 2035.
The release of rebased CPI figures triggered a bullish rally, boosting demand for high-yielding securities, particularly the April 2029 and January 2035 bonds. The DMO allotted N910.39bn at auction. In April, activity centred on mid-curve papers, especially the Feb-2031 and May-2033 maturities, with intermittent demand for Mar-2027, Jan-2035, and longer-dated Apr-2037 and Jun-2053 instruments.
The auction offered N350bn and saw N397.89bn allotted: N21.12bn in the 19.30 per cent Apr 2029 issue at 19.00 per cent and N376.77bn in the 19.89 per cent May 2033 issue at 19.99 per cent. There were also non-competitive allotments of N50bn and N73bn for each bond, respectively. N100bn was on offer in June, with subscriptions coming in at N602.86bn. Post auction, N100bn was allotted at N1.05bn for the April 2029 bond and N98.95bn for the June 2032 instrument.
GIK/APA