The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Monday that the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol surged by 215.95% between July 2022 and July this year.
The statistics agency, in its latest ‘Premium Motor Spirit Price Watch’ report for July this year indicated that while Nigerians paid N190.01 per litre for fuel in July 2022, they paid an average of N600.35 per litre in July this year.
On a month-on-month basis, the Bureau reported that when compared to the N545.83 per litre of the commodity last June, the July 2023 represented an increase of 9.99% on the average.
According to the Bureau, the average price of petrol in July 2023 on state-by-state analysis showed that “Borno State had the highest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), at N657.27, Abia and Gombe States were next, with N643.13 and N642.22, respectively.
However, Edo, Kwara and Benue States had the lowest average retail prices for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), at N530.00, N535.44 and N537.00, respectively.
This is even as the statistics agency further clarified that “on zonal profile, the North-East Zone had the highest average retail price of N630.13, while the North Central Zone had the lowest price of N551.58.”
Fuel prices have been increasing over the past months following the stoppage of the fuel subsidy regime by the President Tinubu in his inaugural speech on May 29 this year on assumption of office as the president of the country.
Specifically, the PMS price was on an average of N185 per litre before Tinubu’s announcement and has since been hovering around N580 per litre and N618 per litre, depending on the point of purchase across the country.
