Treasury Bills in Nigeria: Investment, Rates, Calculation & All You Need to Know

There are many investment opportunities where you can preserve and increase your money instead of just saving in the bank. Among these opportunities is T-Bills Investment – That’s investing in Treasury Bills in Nigeria. T-Bills investment is hidden to most Nigerians because it’s not hyped or talked about like other ways to make money or start a profitable business.

If by any means you want to know more about Treasury Bills investment, then you’re at the right page.

I will show you everything you need to know ranging from: the meaning of Treasury Bills, How Treasury Bills works in Nigeria, Types of Treasury Bills in Nigeria, Advantages & Disadvantages of Treasury Bills in Nigeria, Rates of Treasury Bills in Nigeria, How to Buy Treasury Bills in Nigeria, How to Calculate T-bills Profit and Definition of some terms related to Treasury Bills.

Now, all you need to do is keep your 100% mind focused here as you will learn something great and new today!

Treasury Bills in Nigeria: Everything You Need to Know

Let go;

What are Treasury Bills?

Treasury bills is also known as T-Bills. It’s is basically of short-term debt backed by the government of any state, in the Nigerian context, it issued by the FG via the Central Bank of Nigeria. These bills are offered here in the country on a bi-weekly basis via the CBN, and due to their liquid nature, they can be traded in the secondary market.

These bills are often used in funding many infrastructural projects which may pop up during governance, most projects like road, school, electricity and more have part of their funding from T-bills.

Treasury bills in Nigeria have a maturity period/date – a period where one can cash out or withdraw his/her funds.

T-Bills more like a loan offered to the government with interest, but this time it’s not from banks alone. It is from any individual in the country. The maturity period can be likened to a loan’s expiration date whereby the borrower will have to repay his/her debt. The maturity period for T-bills varies, but in most case it ranges from ninety-one days to a year, based on the agreement reached, the tenure could be more.

RELATED: Top 10 Banks to Get Loan in Nigeria

How Treasury Bills works in Nigeria?

So how does T-bills work in the country, it’s pretty straightforward.

Once in the period of two weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria announces the sale of government securities which includes treasury bills, this information is carried in the pages of national dailies and on the CBN website. Interested persons will have to make a purchase by filling out the T-bills form from any of their official dealers, agents or commercial banks.

Once the transaction is approved, the proposed sum will be deducted from the account provided in the application form. Once received you’d be paid your interest rate upfront, the balance will be sent to you at the bills maturity date. This bills from now on will be used in funding most projects, it also used at times to as part of funding for the national budget.

Types of Treasury Bills in Nigeria

There are basically three types of treasury bills offered by the Central Bank of Nigeria, they’re a classified according to validity period;

• 91DAYS NTB – These bills have a tenure of 91 days after which the FG pays back its debt to the lender. 91 days bill are auctions bi-weekly on Wednesdays but payments are to be made on Friday.
• 182DAYS NTB – The treasury bills of this type reach maturity after 182 days of bill issuance. After this the bills are payed after the initial interest which is usually paid upfront.
• 364DAYS NTB – You could also refer to this as bills that are matured after a year period. The auction is usually on Wednesday and payments the next Friday.

Now, let talk about the big deal;

Advantages and Disadvantages of T-Bills

As with all forms of business and investments, there are the good and bad sides of the coin, the same can be said for T-bills. Generally.

However, there are some advantages and also disadvantages which are as follows;

Advantages of Treasury Bills in Nigeria

• Treasury bills are one of the best investments one can engaged in, for consistent income.
• Treasury bills in Nigeria are tax free form of investments offered by the FG. This implies that you don’t need to pay added fees for tax.
• The risks involved are less or let say it has no risk because it’s backed by the government.
• You are assured of getting every penny invested back, plus interests.
• There are no charges for transactions and they are very liquid.
• Very advisable than keeping your money in back. Treasury Bills lets your money keep increasing.

Disadvantages of Treasury Bills in Nigeria

• The major disadvantage that may is the constant fluctuation of interest rates, as this may hinder your profit potential.

Now let talk about the said rate;

Rates of Treasury Bills in Nigeria

The current rates for National treasury bills can be found on the pages of major newspapers, CBN’s website and the DMO website.

The currents rates Nigeria treasury bills 2019 as released by the CBN are as below:

• Credit: www.nigeriagalleria.com

• You can find the rests of this by visiting >> https://www.cbn.gov.ng/rates/GovtSecurities.asp, there you’d see the rates for subscriptions, net sales, marginal rates, true yield and more, you’d could also explore the rates for other security like FGN Bonds, CBN bills and more.

How to Buy Treasury Bills in Nigeria

Purchasing of treasury bills in Nigeria is a pretty easy process and anyone can buy into it, as long you have the minimum amount required which is N10,000 you can invest in this business.

• All you need do is get an agent or accredited dealer.
• Request and Fill out the T-Bills form you’d be given, state your amount you’d be willing to invest and the money will be deducted accordingly.

Asides these accredited agents, commercial banks in Nigeria are also a good platform to buy any amount of treasury bills in Nigeria, and it’s advisable you use the banks to be on a safer side.

If you still don’t get the whole concept of T-bills purchase, don’t fret as there are agent in most commercial banks to guide throughout the process.

How to Calculate T-bills Profit

After investing in T-bills, you expect to get profit at the end of the day, you could easily calculate your potential profit before its maturity date. To calculate, you’d need to have some variables, the tenure/type of Treasury bill purchased, the amount purchased and you’re good to go.

Income is calculated in percentage so you have you subtract the amount from 100, and dividing whatever you have with the same amount, finally you multiply whatever value gotten by hundred – just like calculating the Simple Interest (SI) in Mathematics.

I mean like:

• 100 – amount x 100 for the profit.

To get the annualized profit, you’d have to multiply what you have in the formula above by 365.

• Annualized profit = profit x 365.

Definition of some terms in Treasury Bills:

Some you’d need to familiarize yourself with when dealing on treasury bills

• Yield Rate – The yield rate for any T-bill is the amount of return on your investment, it’s expressed in percentage.
• Bill Auction – It’s an event that occurs bi-weekly in which treasury bills are auctioned
• Treasury Bond – Similar to treasury bills, treasury bond or T-bonds have fixed interest rates and have maturity of above 10 years. The interest is paid on a periodic basis until the maturity date.
• Government Paper – These are securities that are issued by the Federal Government
• Stop rate – Stop rate is the highest rate you can get on interest.
• Tenor – Amount of days, usually 91, 182 or 364 days, that bills can be held.
• Bid rate – This implies to how much you’re willing to buy any government securities during auction.

Rounding Off – Treasury Bills in Nigeria

So there you have it, all about Treasury bills in Nigeria. Soon, am going to write about top banks you can buy Treasury bill and how to buy them.

Let me say again that investing in T-Bills is very advisable for smart people like you because, the money you keeps in the Bank do nothing for you and sometimes the money are gradually deducted by the banks for some unreasonable expenses like card maintenance etc.

If you invest in Treasury Bills, you’re going to have your money increased and don’t forget that it is 100% risk free!

Keep anticipating for more guides about treasury bills in Nigeria but for now, do let me know what you think about this type of investment and don’t forget to share this amazing information with your friends by clicking on the floating social media icons.