The Central Bank of Nigeria says it released a total sum of $1.25 billion to oil sector operators for the importation of petroleum products and other related items into the country between January and September 2024.
This is despite the removal of fuel subsidies and the implementation of reforms in the oil sector to boost local production. The $1.25bn is 40 per cent higher than the $891m released by the apex bank to dealers during the same period in 2023.
The amount released within the first nine months of 2024 is against the backdrop of the insistence of marketers to continue fuel imports despite the availability of petrol from the Dangote refinery.
Fuel imports, a significant consumer of foreign exchange, impact the country’s foreign reserves and the naira to dollar rate.
The CBN also indicated that 19 sectors and services seeking to do importation and other forex-related activities received $18.78bn forex allocation within the same period.
In October, the government implemented a fully deregulated petroleum market, allowing refineries to sell directly to marketers. This policy immediately jerked up the petrol price to N1,060 per litre before it was reduced to N935 per litre in December following a pricing war between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Dangote refinery.
A breakdown using the CBN quarterly statistical bulletin revealing the monthly data showed that the apex bank released $1.25bn between January and September 2024.
The amount is an increase of $357.24m or 40.06 per cent from $891.68m disbursed within the same period of 2023.
It noted that $26.55m was utilised in January 2024 for fuel imports; $161.88m in February, and $334.47m in March.
Forex for fuel import transactions fell to $106.48m in April and $150.45m in May but rose to $36.82m in June.
The country utilised $107.10m in July and $132.45m in August for petroleum products importation and $192.71m.
In the third quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that Nigerians spent N5.14tn importing mineral fuels.
According to the document, mineral fuels accounted for 35 per cent of the N14.67tn worth of goods imported during the period under review.
In the second quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics said the value of Nigeria’s import of PMS rose to N3.22tn – the highest on record in the nation’s history.
It added that the importation of petrol in the second quarter of 2024 constituted 25 per cent of total imports in the period.
Furthermore, the N3.2tn petrol import bill in Q1 2024 marks a 100 per cent increase in the value of petrol import compared to the same period of 2023 which stood at N1.6tn.
In the first quarter of 2024 so far, the value of petrol imports reached N2.6tn, while cumulatively, in the first six months of the year, the country’s petrol import bill stood at N10.96tn.
Last year, crude oil refiners and other players in the downstream sector stated that the dollar charges on locally refined Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, coupled with the cost of importing crude are major reasons for the high cost of the product when compared to imported PMS.
The Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria noted that some of the charges on locally refined products were still in dollars, stressing that this affects the cost of these commodities.
This is also as marketers called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to fix its charges in naira.
The Publicity Secretary of CORAN, Eche Idoko regretted that jetty charges were still in dollars.
He called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to fix its charges in naira.
