DATA recentlyobtained from the National Bureau of Statistics has shown that the amount spent on the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in the first half of 2021 jumped to N1.47tn, which is more than 73 per cent of what was incurred in the whole of last year.
The N1.47tn is about 86 per cent of what the country spent on petrol imports in the whole of 2019.
Petrol imports gobbled up N782.46bn in the second quarter of this year, up from the N687.74bn spent on the importation of the product in Q1, according to the NBS data.
The country spent N1.09tn on petrol imports in the first half of 2020, up from N766.06bn in H1 2019.
The data also showed that petrol topped the list of products imported into the country in Q2, accounting for 11.26 per cent of the total amount spent on imported products, up from 10.04 per cent in the previous quarter.
Nigeria spent N2.01tn on petrol imports in 2020, compared to N1.71tn in the previous year.
Recall that NaijaTimes had reported that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation incurred petrol subsidy cost of N756.99bn from January to July this year, citing data from the corporation.
In its latest monthly report, it said, “To ensure continuous increased PMS supply and effective distribution across the country, a total of 1.67 billion litres of PMS, translating to 55.79 million litres/day were supplied for the month (April) in the downstream sector.
“The corporation has continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of PMS to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the nation.”
The supply of the product by the NNPC rose to 1.78 billion litres (57.49 million litres/day) in March from 1.41 billion litres (50.52 million litres/day) in February and 1.44 billion litres (46.30 million litres/day) in January this year.
