Nigeria sells 170 bln naira in local currency bonds at higher yields -debt office

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria raised 170.18 billion naira in local currency bonds maturing in 2036, 2026 and 2020 at an auction, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Thursday, paying higher returns than at the previous auction on March 16. The office said it sold 40 billion naira ($201 million) of 2036 paper at 13.08 percent at Wednesday's auction, compared with 12.40 percent at the previous auction It also sold 40 billion naira of 2026 debt at 12.60 percent, against 12.09 percent, and 20 billion naira of the 2020 debt at 12 percent against 11.33 percent. The debt office allocated an additional 70 billion naira of the 2026 maturing debt to investors in a non-competitive tender. Subscriptions from investors stood at 206.72 billion naira compared with 262.42 billion naira at the last auction. Africa's biggest economy issues local bonds as part of measures to finance the government budget deficit and also help to manage liquidity in the banking system. Nigeria said it would borrow about 900 billion naira locally to finance part of the 2.2 trillion naira deficit in its 2016 budget. ($1 = 198.8000 naira) (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa)