TheCable

The federal government has announced a savings bonds offer for interested retail investors.

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), subscribers will get an interest rate of 12.79% on the two-year bond and 13.79% on the three-year savings bonds.

The subscription offer circular on the DMO website said the two-year bond will be due in April 2019 while the three-year bond will be due in April 2020.

The DMO did not state how much was offered but said that the maximum subscription is N50 million at N1,000 per unit, and a minimum subscription of N5,000 in multiples of N1,000.

The website said the bond was fully backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government of Nigeria, with quarterly coupon payments to bond holders.

The savings bond issuance is expected to help finance the nation’s budget deficit.

In February, the federal government issued a $1bn Eurobond and announced that it would begin issuance of its first sovereign green bond, which is worth N20 billion, in April.

Abraham Nwankwo, director general of the Debt Management Office, had said that the Eurobond would be deployed to infrastructure to create jobs and make the economy more competitive.

The Eurobond, which was oversubscribed, has since been listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.