Petrol consumers may pay about N8.4tn for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, between July and December 2023 once the Federal Government stops subsidy on PMS in June, latest findings and industry data showed.
This represents about 250 per cent increase from the N2.4tn PMS consumers would spend during the period if the government chose to retain the subsidy regime.
Oil marketers explained that the average cost of petrol could rise to about N700/litre from July, should fuel subsidy be brought to an end in June as projected by the Federal Government.
The development means that the expense by Nigerians for fully deregulated petrol could rise by N6tn during the six month period, going by the insistence of the government that fuel subsidy would end in June.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, in February, stated that over 66 million litres of PMS was pumped daily into the market by NNPC Limited to keep the country wet.
With a projected average cost of N700/litre once subsidy is removed, it implies that Nigerians would pay about N46.2bn daily for petrol, which translates to approximately N1.4tn monthly and N8.4tn in six months (July to December 2023).
“If the refineries are not working and we are going to depend on imports, then the price of petrol may rise even above the N700 or N750 that is being projected,” the President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, told our correspondent
