Highlights
- The average price of Petrol in January 2019 was ₦145.80.
- The average price of petrol decrease by 23.7% in 2018 year on year basis, while it decreased by 0.1% month on month.
- Oyo recorded the highest average price of Petrol at ₦150.50 in January 2019.
- Bauchi and Yobe recorded the lowest average price of Petrol at ₦144 in January 2019.
The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released the Premium Motor Spirit (Popular known as Petrol) price watch for the month of January 2019. The NBS report shows that the average price paid by consumers for PMS was ₦190.9 year on year, which represents a decrease by 23.7% in 2018. Also, the average price paid by consumers was ₦145.80 month on month, this represents a 0.1% decrease.
Across the six (6) geopolitical zones, the report shows that the North-East witnessed the highest average price of ₦146.26, followed by North Central with an average price of ₦146.1. The third is South West where consumers paid an average price of ₦146.11. The North West zone came forth with an average price of ₦145.37, while both South-South and South East witnessed a unit average price of ₦145.15.
Similarly, the NBS report further shows that in January 2019, the three (3) states that witnessed the highest average price of PMS include Oyo, Benue and Taraba. Oyo witnessed the highest average price of ₦150.50, representing 3.40% increase, Benue was second and the average price of petrol was ₦150.09, a 2.38% increase. Lastly, Taraba came third where PMS was sold to consumers at an average price of ₦150.00.
In other words, Jigawa, Bauchi and Yobe are the three states that witnessed the lowest prices of PMS in January 2019. Yobe came first with the lowest prices of PMS of ₦144.00, representing a 1.29% reduction, while Bauchi came second with an average price of PMS of ₦144.00, representing 0.89% decrease. Although, both Yobe and Bauchi witnessed a unity average price of PMS, however, Yobe recorded the highest based on the month on month percentage decrease. Lastly, Jigawa came third with an average price of ₦144.20, which represents a 0.52% decrease.
Specifically, the averages prices of PMS in 2018 are January (₦172.5), April 2018 (₦151.4) and July (₦146.8). Also, in October the average price was ₦147.2, December (₦145.8) and ₦145.7 in January 2019.
Implication
PMS is a product used daily by individuals, small and large scale enterprises as an alternative source of power. Hence, any change in the price of PMS is likely to affect the prices of essential commodities that consumers buy. It should be noted that the inflation figure has reduced in the last quarter, and the reduction in price PMS is likely to be one of the factors responsible. A reduction in the price of PMS implies a likely reduction in prices of goods and by extension, an increase in the purchasing power of consumers.
Effect on Income of Investors
Investors, both domestic and foreign, are always driven by revenue on investments. This means that a decrease in the price of PMS, by extension will affect the returns of investors in the downstream oil sector. Hence, investors in the downstream stream oil sector into marketing of PMS are likely to suffer a dip in their revenue due to the reduction in prices of PMS.
