The Federal Government (FG) plans to refinance the N762.5 billion worth of maturing Treasury bills with the proceeds of a planned $2.5 billion Eurobond, in her bids to cut borrowing costs for the government, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has said.
Adeosun said the government has reappointed the banks that handled the previous Eurobond sale – Citigroup, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank – for the new bond sale.
Nigeria expects to save N64 billion each year after it refinances the local bills with the dollar debt, the minister said after Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
In January, the head of the debt office said the government would consider raising $2.5 billion through Eurobonds in the first quarter to refinance a portion of its domestic treasury bill portfolio at lower cost.
Nigeria wants to refinance $3 billion worth of a local treasury bill portfolio of N2.7 trillion.
It sold $3 billion in Eurobonds in November, part of which was used to fund its 2017 budget, and then paid off N198 billion in treasury bills in December.
The debt payoff leads to a drop in rates by around 300 basis points which translates into savings for the government, Adeosun said.
On Wednesday, bond yields rose 50 basis points to a level last seen five months ago as global risk-off sentiment spread to local assets. The rise hit the actively traded 5-year bond and benchmark 20-year debt the most.
Source: Reuters