Nume Ekeghe with agency report
Nigeria plans to target retail investors with a new savings bond that will go on sale this month, the Debt Management Office said on Wednesday.
Two- and three-year maturities will be offered, with interest paid quarterly. The interest rate has yet to be announced, but the debt office paid 16.5 percent on a five-year bond sold to institutional investors last month.
The bonds will be “good for savings towards retirement, marriage, school fees, house projects,” Reuters quoted the debt office to have said.
Savings accounts at Nigeria’s commercial banks pay up to 5 per cent in interest, but the country’s inflation is running at more than 18 per cent annually.
The bond offer will open on March 13 and end after five days, the debt office said. New issues will be sold every month.
The minimum subscription will be N5,000 and the maximum N50 million. Nigeria’s government depends on local borrowing to fund more than half its budget deficit, which is expected to reach N2.36 trillion this year.
