Nigeria will suspend raising gasoline prices even as crude rises in a bid to slow accelerating inflation.
(Bloomberg) — Nigeria will suspend raising gasoline prices even as crude rises in a bid to slow accelerating inflation.
The move to halt raising fuel prices comes nearly three months after President Bola Tinubu scrapped costly subsidies spurring a jump in prices of everything from food to transport costs.
“Mr. President is convinced based on information before him that we can maintain current pricing without reversing our deregulation policy,” said Ajuri Ngelale, spokesman for the president. That will happen “by swiftly cleaning up existing inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum sector,” he said, without giving details.
Tinubu moved hours after the inflation rate in Africa’s biggest economy climbed to a fresh 18-year high. Consumer prices rose an annual 24.1% in July, compared with 22.8% in the prior month, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s eurobonds were the worst performers in emerging-market credit on Tuesday, with nine of the securities ranked among the bottom ten in a more than 600-strong Bloomberg index on concerns about Tinubu slowing or reversing some of his policy decisions.
Tinubu in May removed petrol subsidies, which cost the government $10 billion last year.
That saw some food items commonly consumed by Nigerians jump by 25% to 30%, data showed, including key ingredients for the country’s highly popular jollof rice dish. The price for a tin of evaporated milk rose 67%.
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