Nigeria has no intention of cutting fuel subsidy at this time
Nigeria has no intention of removing subsidies on petroleum products, its finance minister said on Wednesday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised the country to eliminate them to protect public finances.
Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy heavily subsidises gasoline and relies on imports for the bulk of its domestic demand due to an underperforming refining system.
"It's still work in progress ... there is no intention to remove the fuel subsidy at this time," Zainab Ahmed told reporters.
Ahmed said she agreed with the IMF's advise on subsidies but the country first needed to take steps to cushion the effect of their removal on the population.
"We have to find a formula that will work for Nigeria. And until we do that, we should not be contemplating removing the subsidy," she said.
The IMF says the country needs to maintain good public finances and has advised Nigeria to remove the state subsidy on petrol and channel the saved funds into building hospitals, roads and schools.
Nigeria emerged from a recession in 2017 brought on by low oil prices and a currency crisis. But growth is still fragile as private sector credit expansion remains weak and the government is trying to mobilise funds to spend its way out of the sluggish growth.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation