The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday sold another N98 billion of Treasury securities to reduce Naira liquidity and support the currency.

The apex bank sold the 91-day bill at a higher interest rate of 16 percent, while the 196-day bill was offered at 17.81 percent.

Total subscriptions were N194.6 billion.

This was after 10.25 billion of a 91-day bill was auctioned at an interest rate of 13.1 percent on Wednesday, and N11 billions of 182-day bills at 15.3 percent and N112 billions of one-year paper at 15.50 percent.

Total subscriptions were N194.6 billion.

The local currency remained fairly stable on Thursday, trading at N305.60 against the U.S. dollar on the official market window, the same level it has been trading in the last three months.

On the Investors & Exporters window, the Naira traded at N360 to a US dollar. While on the parallel market the Naira remained at N363 per dollar.

Central bank intervention has helped sustain the Naira value against the US dollar and moderate rising consumer prices to 15.98 percent in September.

Meanwhile, the 2017 economic growth forecast was revised down from 2.19 percent to 1.5 percent, according to a Reuters report released on Thursday.

The revision was based on oil production which stood at about 1.9 million barrels per day as of July 2017, while the estimate used in the previous projection was 2.2 million barrels per day.

This was after the International Monetary Fund affirmed its 0.8 percent projection for 2017 economic growth last week, saying the 2.19 percent estimated by the Federal Government is unrealistic given current headwinds.

Nigeria generates two-thirds of its revenue from crude oil.