The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has warned that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, may rise to around N750 per litre.
The IPMAN’s national spokesperson, Chinedu Ukadike, dropped the hint on Thursday in Abuja as the group urged the government to implement measures to prevent the naira from further depreciating.
Despite being the main importer of petroleum products, he said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had not yet raised its ex-depot price from N587.7.
Ukadike stated that, “There will be a 10 percent increase because the dollar was N750, now it is over N900. That is almost a 20% increase. If you apply this, you should be talking about N750/ litre.
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“Currently, dollar rate at the parallel market, as of today, is N910, which also means that the landing cost of PMS will increase and also the domestic price of PMS will increase.
“People should understand that the government is no longer subsidizing and there is no local production in Nigeria. Had it been there is local production, it would have been able to cushion the effect of too many naira pursuing the dollar. It would have helped us and saved the naira.
“If the government does not do something drastically, before the end of this year, naira may be close to N1,100 per dollar and this will be a serious inflation for Nigeria,” he added.
