Nigeria’s daily fuel subsidy falls to N889.44m

The Federal Government’s daily spending on petrol subsidy has declined from the N1.07 billion it recorded as at September 8, to N889.44 million as at September 22.

Besides, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), western countries and leading developing nations are spending up to $200 billion yearly in subsidising fossil fuels, which OECD considered as being on the high side.

The country’s daily payment on fuel subsidy has continued to be on the decline since June this year, dropping from N2.4 billion to N1.07 billion two weeks ago.

Specifically, at the exchange rate of N197 to a dollar, the country’s daily subsidy per litre of fuel has decreased from the N22.42 per litre it earlier recorded to N18.53 per litre.

Based on daily petrol consumption of 48 million litres, the total subsidy cost on the product as of September 22, would amount to N889.44 million at N18.53 per litre.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which made this disclosure yesterday in its pricing template, put the expected open market price of the product at N105.53.

The landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has also dropped from N93.93 to N90.04, while the Expected Open Market Price declined from N109.42 to N105.53 per litre.

According to a new OECD report, released on Monday, government support for subsidising fuel is hampering global efforts to curb emissions and combat climate change.

According to the OECD, coal, natural gas and petroleum received yearly subsidies of $160 billion to $200 billion from 2010 to 2014 in the 34 OECD countries and six emerging economies.

The Paris-based think-tank said its 34 members plus six of the biggest emerging economies – China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa , were spending money supporting the consumption and production of coal, oil and gas that should be used to tackle climate change.

OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, stated in the report: “The time is ripe for countries to demonstrate they are serious about combating climate change, and reforming harmful fossil fuel support is a good place to start.

“Governments are spending almost twice as much money supporting fossil fuels as is needed to meet the climate-finance objectives set by the international community, which call for mobilising $100 billion a year by 2020. We must change the course. This new OECD Inventory offers a roadmap to turn around harmful policies that are a relic of the past, when pollution was still seen as a tolerable side effect of economic growth.”