Banks borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria jumped from N19.2 billion penultimate week to N489 billion as volume of idle cash (liquidity) in the interbank money market plunged by 2,183 per cent last week.
Analysis of data sourced from the CBN shows that interbank money market liquidity opening level crashed to N12 billion on Monday from N349.6 billion the previous week.
On the contrary, banks’ deposits with the apex bank fell sharply by 67 per cent to N25.4 billion last week from N73.6 billion the previous week.
Confirming this development, analysts at Zedcrest Securities on Friday, said: “Money market rates remained at double-digit levels closing the week by 2 basis points higher on average from yesterday’s closing. System liquidity remained low at N11.98 billion as some participants stayed camped at the CBN Repo window while others continued to source for deposits from large businesses.
“Subsequently, Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (OVN) rates closed the week at 16.75 per cent and 17.25 per cent respectively.”
Meanwhile, following the news of plans to trade dollars online, the Naira gained its highest against the dollar in the official market in almost a month.
