Nigeria will not reduce the pump price of fuel despite falling oil prices at the international market, until the revenue crisis occasioned by the dwindling oil rates is over, finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said yesterday in Abuja.
Okonjo-Iweala said that the decision to review fuel price either upwards or downwards would only be taken after the current crisis in global oil prices has been settled.
Premium Times reports that the minister, however, said government was awaiting expert advice from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, which is updating the fuel pricing template, to help proffer the best way to address the issue.
The PPPRA is the government agency responsible for monitoring and regulating the price of petroleum products in the country.
Petrol sells at N97 per litre in Nigeria.
“With declining crude oil prices by about 49 percent, soon there will no longer be subsidy in petroleum products as usual,” the minister said. “But, government is not going to take a decision till after the current volatility in crude oil prices has stabilised.”
The minister said the Nigerian government does not want to reduce fuel price today “only for crude oil price to rise tomorrow and we have to adjust the pump price again.”
The minister also announced that the government has decided to impose various charges on luxury goods/items and services, including taxes on private jets and yachts, luxury cars, expensive wines and executive mansions.
Other services that would attract taxes, Okonjo-Iweala said, include official travels on first class and business class tickets, while foreign trainings would be cut down drastically.
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