Diesel Price in Nigeria Increases by 55.9%; Petrol Rises by 42.63% – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Monday that average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil paid by consumers increased significantly in the last one year.

This includes 55.90% increase in the price of diesel from a lower cost of N539.32 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year to a higher cost of N836.81 per litre in March.

The Bureau also revealed that for petrol price in March 2023, Nigerians pay N264.29, indicating an increase of 42.63% relative to the value recorded in March 2022 (N185.30).

The NBS made this known in its document “Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) Price Watch (March 2023)” released on Monday.

On diesel, the data also showed that on a monthly, an increase of 0.47% was recorded from N836.91 in the preceding month to an average of N840.81 last month.

NBS noted that looking at the variations in the state prices, the top three state with the highest average price of the product in March 2023 include Bauchi (N910.46), Abuja (N889.44) and Adamawa (N880.33).

It added that the top three lowest prices were recorded in the following state namely – Bayelsa (N768.04), Katsina (N779.78) and Edo (N797.14).

The Zonal representation of average price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel), according to the Bureau, shows that North East Zone has the highest price of N856.42 while South South Zone has the lowest price N816.92 when compared with other Zones.

Similarly, it said the average retail price paid by Nigerians for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) in March 2023 was N264.29, indicating an increase of 42.63% relative to the value recorded in March 2022 (N185.30).

On petrol, the document said the average retail price of petrol  increased by 0.20% from N263.76, compared with the average price value with the previous month (i.e. February 2023),

On state profile analysis, noted that Imo state had the highest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) with N332.67, followed by Taraba with N330.00 and Borno with N324.55.

On the other hand, NBS said Benue recorded the lowest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) with N195.00, followed by Plateau with N196.79 and Nasarawa with N197.50.

In addition, analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price in March 2023 with N306.00, while the North-Central had the lowest with N205.10.qaA