CBN injects N5.21 trillion in one week ahead of N700 billion NTB auction today

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pumped a net N5.21 trillion into the banking system over the past week, with a single N2.48 trillion Open Market Operations (OMO) repayment on August 11, the week’s largest one-day liquidity injection.

This is according to the financial data published by the apex bank on Tuesday, August 11 and 4.

The robust liquidity injection comes just a day ahead of the primary market auction today, where the CBN, on behalf of the Debt Management Office (DMO) is targeting to raise N700 billion in Treasury Bills auction.

What the data is saying:

The N5.21 trillion repayments between August 4 and 11 reflect the scale of OMO and T-bills maturities flowing back into the system just as the CBN resumes Treasury Bills issuance today.

• The N2.48 trillion (47.60%) repayment on August 11 alone accounted for the bulk of liquidity release in the final days before today’s auction.
• CBN executed N2.73 trillion (52.40%) Primary Market Repayments on August 4 (N2.45 trillion) and August 6 (N283.78 billion).
• The August 12 auction follows the cancellation of a similarly sized offer on August 5, which was stopped after the CBN withdrew a combined N4.69 trillion through back-to-back OMO auctions on August 3 and 4.

Analysts at Cordros Securities had projected around N1.58 trillion in OMO Bills maturing during the week, though the actual repayment seen in Tuesday’s N2.48 trillion single-day settlement have exceeded that estimate.

More insights:

As Nairametrics previously reported, the CBN is expected to return to the primary market with a N700 billion Nigerian Treasury Bills auction today, Wednesday, August 12, 2026, just a week after cancelling a similar-sized offering.

• Today’s NTB auction is coming after the heaviest liquidity release for the week, raising the prospect of another strong bid-to-cover outcome.
• In other words, the auction bids fair to attract massive oversubscription and higher allotment size. Recent auctions in the cycle have consistently drawn oversubscription.
• At the July 29 auction, the CBN allotted approximately N1.25 trillion against a N700 billion offer, driven by strong demand for the 364-day bill.

At the July 8 auction, the CBN allotted N1.06 trillion, raising the one-year stop rate sharply to 17.70% from 17.34% previously, while the 182-day tranche remained the weak spot, drawing subscriptions of just N29.94 billion against N100 billion on offer.

What you should know

The CBN recently intensified its liquidity management operations through July, conducting aggressive OMO sales that absorbed N7.18 trillion from the banking system.

• However, it has since alternated mop-up operations with sizable repayments, including this week’s N2.48 trillion single-day release.
• With that much cash now back in the system ahead of a Dutch auction weighted toward the 364-day tenor, market watchers will be looking to today’s stop rates and subscription levels.

The outcome may signal whether the elevated liquidity pushes yields lower or simply gets absorbed by continued institutional appetite for one-year paper.