VANGUARD
There are strong indications that the national average price of petrol will rise further as marketers benchmark costs against rising exchange rates.
Marketers who spoke to Vanguard yesterday, against the backdrop of continued depreciation of the naira, said the implication would be that their cost has also increased beyond the figure used in fixing current pump prices.
The current national average pump price of N500 per litre was arrived at with an exchange rate of N661/$.
Already, Vanguard findings have indicated that most major oil marketers have adjusted their prices to N492-495 in Lagos, contrary to the N488 earlier positions floated by the industry shortly after the removal of subsidy was announced by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023.
Also in Lagos, most independent marketers have adjusted further to an average of N515, while outside Lagos the pump price has jumped to over N650.
The marketers said that with the closing rate at the Investors and Exporters, I&E, foreign exchange window since last week at about N770/$ the pump price is likely to hit N550 per litre by early next month.
Marketers begin importation
This comes as the marketers begin the process of importing the product under the new market regime.
But checks by Vanguard, yesterday, showed that as a result of the changes occasioned by forex, oil marketers are still finding the business environment very uncertain to raise funds for the importation of the product…
