Oil marketers have stated that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol may increase as the Naira’s value against the dollar continues to fall.
As naiara plunged against the dollar to exchange N920/$ on Thursday, fuel marketers stressed that the pump price could not remain at N617 per litre, especially if the current exchange rate lingered.
They projected a cost of between N680/litre to N700/litre, based on an exchange rate of N920/litre, noting that the forex rate was about N750/$ to N800/$ at the time the cost of petrol was pegged at N590/litre to N617/litre.
However, the oil dealers argued that since the Federal Government has insisted that it would not increase the petrol price, it was thus “subsidising the commodity secretly, based on the prevalent exchange rate reality.”
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, had told State House correspondents last week that President Tinubu had instructed that the cost of petrol should not increase.
“Mr President wishes to assure Nigerians following the announcement by the NNPC Limited just yesterday (Monday) that there will be no increase in the pump price of PMS anywhere in the country. We repeat, the President affirms that there will be no increase in the pump price of PMS.”
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