Average retail price of petrol up 223% in 12 months – NBS

The average retail price paid by Nigerians for petrol rose by 223.21 per cent in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The bureau said this in its “Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch” report for May 2024, released on Thursday.

The NBS said the average retail price paid by consumers for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) for May 2024 was N769.62, indicating a 223.21 per cent increase compared to the value recorded in May 2023 (N238.11).

The bureau also said that comparing the average price value with the previous month (i.e. April 2024), the average retail price increased by 9.75 per cent from N701.24.

On State profile analysis, the report said Jigawa State had the highest average retail price for petrol, at N937.50, followed by Ondo and Benue states, with N882.67 and N882.22, respectively.

It said Lagos, Niger and Kwara states had the lowest average retail prices for petrol, at N636.80, N642.16 and N645.15 respectively.

The NBS said the North-west zone had the highest average retail price at N845.26, while the North-central zone had the lowest price at N695.04.

Diesel

In its Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) Price Watch report for May 2024, the NBS said the average retail price of diesel paid by consumers increased by 66.29 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

The bureau said the price moved from a lower cost of N844.28 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year (i.e., May 2023) to a higher cost of N1403.96 per litre in May 2024.

On a month-on-month basis, the NBS said a decrease of 0.78 per cent was recorded from N1415.06 in the preceding month of April 2024 to an average of N1403.96 in April 2024.

According to the report, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in May 2024 include Adamawa State (N1709.00), Sokoto State (N1675.00) and Bauchi (N1657.92).

It said the top three lowest prices were recorded in Niger State (N1140.20), Kano State (N1153.33) and Oyo State (N1236.92).

“The Zonal representation of the average price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) shows that North-East Zone has the highest price of N1605.91 while South West Zone has the lowest price N1303.60 when compared with other Zones,” it said.

Cooking gas

In its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch report for May 2024, the NBS said the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas increased by 13.75 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N6,521.58 recorded in April 2024 to N7,418.45 in May 2024.

“On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 70.12 per cent from N4,360.69 in May 2023,” the report said.

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According to the report, Benue recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cooking gas with N8,012.03, followed by Enugu with N7,926.21, and Ondo with N7,857.53.

On the other hand, it said, Yobe recorded the lowest price with N5,842.31, followed by Jigawa and Katsina with N6,521.81 and N6,567.95 respectively.

It explained that the South-east recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg cooking gas with N7,680.87, followed by the South-west with N6,593.93 while the North-east recorded the lowest with N7,071.84.