Ike Amos
Dublin Ireland — Nigeria’s fuel import bill rose sharply by 55.64 per cent as the country spent N2.523 trillion on the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, in nine months, between January and September 2021, according to latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the Third Quarter of 2021, noted that this was in comparison to PMS import of N1.621 trillion recorded from January to September 2021.
It added that fuel import accounted for 11.49 per cent of Nigeria’s total import of N21.955 trillion in the nine-month period of 2021, compared to 11.65 per cent of the total import of N13.91 trillion recorded January to September 2021.
The NBS disclosed that the amount spent on the import of petrol from January to September 2021, was 25.65 per cent higher than the 2.008 trillion spent on the importation of the commodity in the whole of 2020.
The NBS data also revealed that Nigeria’s January to September 2021 fuel import bill was also 47.29 per cent higher than the N1.713 trillion spent on the commodity in the whole of 2019; however, it was 14.56 per cent lower than the N2.953 trillion spent in the 12 months of 2018.
Specifically, the NBS further reported in the third quarter of 2021, Nigeria spent on N1.052 trillion on PMS imports, rising by 97.56 per cent from N532.615 billion recorded in the same period of 2020.
The NBS added that PMS was the country’s highest import in the third quarter of 2021, as it accounted for 12.91 per cent of Nigeria’s total import of N8.154 trillion in the period under review.
Other oil products in the top ten category of most imported commodities are gas oil, N225.634 billion, accounting for 2.77 per cent of Nigeria’s total imported, making it the third most imported commodity.
Lubricating oil was the 10th most imported commodity in the country in the third quarter of 2021, with N78.94 billion spent on the import of the commodity, representing 0.97 per cent of total import in the period under consideration.
The NBS reported that in the third quarter, Nigeria recorded the most import from China, India and United States, with import bills of N2.442 trillion, N710.352 billion and N599.119 billion,
representing 29.95 per cent, 8.71 per cent and 7.35 per cent of the country’s total import.
