Price paid for petrol increases by 18.76% in one year

By Yesirat Kazeem

The average price paid for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, was N172.68 in March 2021, representing an increase of 18.76 per cent from N145.40 in March 2020 and 3.87 per cent rise compared to N166.24 paid in February 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), who revealed this in its latest report stated that states with the highest average price of premium motor spirit (petrol) were Lagos (N200.87), Ebonyi (N184.17) and Niger (N183.50).

The report, however, notes that states such as Adamawa (N162.91), Taraba (N162.67) and Bauchi (N164.00) recorded the lowest average price of petrol.

The statistics office, in its report on the average petrol prices across the six geopolitical zones, said South-East was highest with N181.10, followed by North-Central (N175.53), And South-South (N174.94).

Meanwhile, South-West (N173.36); North-West (N167.91); and North-East (N164.95) had the lowest average price of petrol.

On prices of diesel, the bureau said the average price for automotive gas oil increased by 3.36 per cent from N227.76 in February 2021 to N235.41 in March 2021.

“States with the highest average price of diesel were Borno (N275.30), Benue (N264.91) and Bauchi (N257.50), while states with the lowest average price of diesel were Plateau (N207.50), Rivers (N211.25) and Ekiti (N215.36).”

The report, also, showed that the average price for refilling a 5kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder, better known as cooking gas, rose by 1.92 per cent to N2,057.71 in March 2021 from N2,018.91 in February 2021.

However, the average price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas cylinder declined by 0.10 per cent from N4,363.51 in February 2021 to N4,359.23 in March 2021.

On kerosene, NBS said the average price per litre paid by consumers increased by 1.54 per cent to N361.29 in March 2021 from N355.80 in February 2021.