Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria’s banking system liquidity has remained close to 8 trillion naira even after the Central Bank of Nigeria absorbed about 2.36 trillion naira through an Open Market Operations auction on March 23, 2026, underscoring how strong inflows are keeping excess cash in the system.
Okay News reports that financial data from the Central Bank of Nigeria show system liquidity opened the week above 8.06 trillion naira and briefly tightened, with opening balances dropping to around 85.04 billion naira immediately after the OMO sale, before rebounding to roughly 7.98 trillion naira at the Standing Deposit Facility window by Wednesday, March 25.
Officials say the large OMO issuance was intended to sterilise liquidity, lift money market yields and curb speculative pressure in the foreign exchange market, but the swift recovery in balances highlights how maturing securities and other inflows continue to replenish cash in banks’ accounts.
A major driver of the high liquidity is heavy use of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Standing Deposit Facility, where banks place idle funds overnight at an attractive risk free rate of about 22.28 per cent, with SDF balances rising from around 6.59 trillion naira on March 24 back toward 8 trillion naira a day later.
Analysts note that banks’ preference for the deposit window and the persistence of very high excess reserves suggest that the central bank may need more frequent and larger OMO operations, or additional tools, if it wants to significantly drain liquidity, stabilise interest rates and reduce the risk that surplus cash fuels inflation or foreign exchange speculation.
Recent data show that liquidity has been buoyed by sizeable maturities, including more than 1.4 trillion naira and about 579 billion naira in securities repayments over recent weeks, and that balances at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s deposit window have repeatedly crossed 8 trillion naira, far above levels seen earlier in the year.
