The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said that petrol price in Nigeria will go higher from its present N165 if the price of crude keeps going up.
Zainab spoke on Monday during her contribution in an interaction arranged by the Presidency Media team and State House reporters.
Ahmed said the Federal Government would allow the prices of petroleum products to be determined by market forces in line with the deregulation of the oil sector.
“We simply cannot afford the subsidy, we don’t have the money to pay for subsidy.
“We do recognise that there will be some increased hardships on a segment of the society. But we are looking at how to address that,’’ she added.
Ahmed called the rising price of crude a “double-edged sword,” as the Federal Government seeks a deal with Organised Labour over fuel prices.
While it boosts revenue, it creates fuel price headache at the same time.
She said the central government forecasts an optimistic outlook on the rising crude prices.
But simultaneously, it must deal with the “tussle” with Labour over subsidies and rising local prices of fuel.
Oil prices are averaging around $64 per barrel, above the $40 per barrel projected in the N13.6 trillion ($35.74 billion) budget document.
Early in March, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) created national uproar, when it released the price template for petrol for the month.
The template indicated that the retail price should be N212 per litre, from N162-N165.
Labour unions vowed to resist the increase.
Government halted the increase, as it apparently shouldered the subsidy burden, calculated at over N103 billion for the month.
