April 21, (THEWILL)- Amid worsening economic hardship, Nigerians were subjected to high costs of petrol, diesel and cooking gas in the month of March, 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In its monthly reports on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) Price Watch, Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) Price Watch and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Watch published recently, prices of the three essential energy commodities witnessed varied prices increase with some states’ worst hit.
According to the report, the average retail price paid by consumers for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) for the month of March 2024 was N696.79, indicating a 163.65 percent increase when compared to the value recorded in March 2023 (N264.29).
Likewise, comparing the average price value with the previous month (.i.e. February 2024), the average retail price increased by 2.56 per cent from N679.36.
On State profile analysis, Taraba State had the highest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), at N761.92, Yobe and Adamawa States were next, with N749.09 and N735.00, respectively.
On the other side, Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States had the lowest average retail prices for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), at N630.75, N645.88 and N651.25 respectively. Lastly, on Zonal profile, the North East Zone had the highest average retail price of N732.37, while the South West Zone had the lowest price of N654.24.
Similarly, the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) paid by consumers increased by 59.51% on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost ofmN840.81 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year (i.e., March 2023) to a higher cost of N1341.16 per litre in March 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, an increase of 6.69% was recorded from N1257.06 in the preceding month of February 2024 to an average of N1341.16 in March 2024. Looking at the variations in the State prices, the top three States with the highest average price of the product in March 2024 include Edo State (N1566.67), Jigawa State (N1533.33) and Cross River (N1532.71). Furthermore, the top three lowest prices were recorded in the following:
State namely, Plateau State (N1067.25), Niger State (N1140.00) and Adamawa State (N1175.00).
The Zonal representation of average price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) shows that South South Zone has the highest price of N1419.35 while North Central Zone has the lowest price N1230.98 when compared with other Zones.
The statistics bureau further reported that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) increased by 7.10 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N6,154.50 recorded in February 2024 to N6,591.62 in March 2024.
On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 42.97 per cent from N4,610.48 in March 2023. On state profile analysis, Kano recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N7,609.00, followed by Ogun with N7,363.64, and Akwa Ibom with N7,162.50. On the other hand, Adamawa recorded the lowest price with N5,312.50, followed by Taraba and Zamfara with N5,375.00 and N5,550.00 respectively.
In addition, analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N7,003.08, followed by the South-West with N6,723.22 while the North-East recorded the lowest with N6,221.30.
Also, the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) increased by 5.77% on a month-on-month basis from N15,060.38 in February 2024 to N15,929.04 in March 2024. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 55.22% from N10,262.56 in March 2023.
On state profile analysis, Sokoto recorded the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N17,833.33, followed by Osun with N17,588.46 and Anambra with N17,417.65.
Conversely, the lowest average price was recorded in Katsina with N12,400.00, followed by Kebbi and Bauchi with N13,137.50 and N14,484.25 respectively.
Analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N16,859.85, followed by the South-East with N16,734.87, while the North-East recorded the lowest price with N14,943.48.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
