Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is optimistic of downward trends of rising cost of transportation and food inflation with the lifting of petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery.
CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso stated this at a press briefing on Tuesday at the end of the 297th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja.
“The committee expressed optimism that the lifting of refined petroleum products from Dangote Refinery will moderate transportation costs and significantly support the easing of food price pressures in the short to medium term.
“This is also expected to moderate foreign exchange demands for importation of refined petroleum products with a positive spillover on external reserve and improvement in the overall balance of payment position,” Cardoso said.
The CBN chief also announced the committee’s decision to further raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) which measures interest rates by 50 basis points from 26.75% to 27.25% to moderate inflation rate which stands at 32.15%.
According to the Consumer Price Index report recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the headline inflation rate eased to 32.15% in August 2024, while food inflation stood at 37.52% in the same month.
The NBS said food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
It said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items, bread, maize, grains, guinea corn, bread, cereals yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, vegetable oil, among others.
Cardoso said, “On food inflation, the upside risk remains flooding, hike in energy prices, scarcity of PMS, and most importantly, security in farming communities.
“Considering the weight of food in the CPI (consumer price index, which measures inflation) basket, (MPC) members recognise the efforts of the Federal Government in addressing insecurity in the farming community and stressed the need to remain steadfast.
“In addition, the MPC applauded the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria to bridge the supply deficit through duty-free import windows for food commodities.”
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) began loading the first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery mid-September, and said it got petrol at N898 per litre from the private refinery.
Before lifting petrol from the Dangote Refinery, NNPCL retail outlets in Lagos sell petrol for around N855 but said a litre of Dangote petrol would sell for N950 per litre in Lagos and N1,019 in Borno.
However, Dangote Refinery denied selling petrol to the NNPCL at N898. NNPCL insisted that it got petrol from Dangote Refinery at N898 per litre and challenged the latter to release the price it sold petrol. The NNPCL further released a breakdown of pricing it sell Dangote petrol at its filling stations across the country.
Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said that it doesn’t make sense for the to sell petrol lifted from the Dangote Refinery higher than imported ones.
Speaking during a chat on Channels TV Tuesday IPMAN spokesperson Chinedu Ukadike said Dangote selling directly to independent marketers will crash the price of petrol.
“We want to take our products directly to cut off all these unnecessary price hikes.
“We have written to Dangote, and he has responded positively, indicating readiness to discuss with us. We believe that these discussions will soon yield results, and whatever agreement we reach will be shared with Nigerians,” Ukadike said. With Channels TV reports
