The disagreement arises as the country’s currency continues to depreciate against the dollar in both the official Investors & Exporters Window and the parallel market...CONTINUE READING
On Tuesday, the local currency was traded at N1,225/dollar on the black market, contrasting with its closure at N998/dollar on the official market.
Economists and oil marketers argue that the PMS subsidy has been increasing lately due to the declining naira rate. Contrarily, the NNPC promptly refuted these claims, asserting that it was covering its entire cost from the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as fuel.
During a broadcast on Channels TV last Sunday, Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Financial Derivatives Company, clarified that the fuel subsidy was not eliminated but rather reduced.
Similarly, oil marketers informed Punch Newspaper on Tuesday that PMS should be priced at N1,200/litre in a free market, citing the rise in gasoline subsidies amid the naira’s depreciation against the US dollar and crude oil prices.
The cost of petrol, exclusively imported by the NNPC, varies between N617 to N660 per litre, depending on the purchase location.
Addressing the matter, Muda Yusuf, CEO of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, acknowledged a partial government subsidy on fuel but attributed it to political, social, and economic factors.
However, Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, asserted that the Federal Government had ceased providing fuel subsidies, dismissing the perspectives of economists and marketers as assumptions.
President Bola Tinubu, in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, declared the discontinuation of the fuel subsidy. The NNPC effectively implemented this announcement the following day.
