Lending rate rose to 22 percent on Friday from 13 percent last week due to tight liquidity worsened by banks inability to get access to their balances with the regulator, traders said.
Traders said lenders were demanding as high as 25 percent to place funds on the market overnight and that a technical glitch at the central bank’s system which started last month had not been resolved.
“There was no cash flow to the system this week because of no treasury maturity,” one trader said.
Rates are expected to climb higher next week due to bond auctions being planned, traders said. The central bank plans to sell around 120 billion naira in treasury bills and 95 billion naira in bonds at an auction next week.