The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has indicated that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) may jump to about N750 per litre.
Chinedu Ukadike, the association’s national spokesperson, stated this in Abuja.
He stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is currently maintaining an ex-depot price of N587.7. If the NNPCL lowers its pricing, “other marketers will do the same.”
Furthermore, IPMAN urged the government to undertake policies to prevent future naira depreciation.
“There will be a 10% increase because the dollar was N750; now it is over N900; that is almost a 20% increase if you apply this; you should be talking about N750 per litre,” Ukadike added.
“As of today, the dollar rate on the parallel market is N910, which means that the landing cost of PMS will rise, as will the domestic price of PMS.”
“People should understand that the government is no longer subsidized and that Nigeria has no local production.” If there was local manufacturing, it would be able to mitigate the impact of too much naira chasing the dollar. It would have aided us and saved us money.
“If the government does not take drastic action, the Naira may be close to N1,100 per dollar by the end of this year, resulting in severe inflation in Nigeria.”
Since the Federal Government abolished gasoline subsidies, the product’s pump price has climbed twice, allowing market forces to set prices.
