Petrol Importation Gulps N1.199trn in Three Months

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria spent N1.199 trillion on the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, in three months, between July and September 2022, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the third quarter of 2022, disclosed that fuel import for the period July to September 2022 jumped by 16.9 per cent compared with N1.026 trillion spent to import the commodity in the same period in 2021.

The NBS revealed that in the third quarter of 2022, the petrol importation bill was the highest in recent times, compared to N883.565 billion, N371.8 billion, and N532.615 billion spent to import the commodity in the same quarter in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively.

The statistics agency noted that petrol imports accounted for 21.2 per cent of Nigeria’s total imports in the third quarter of 2022, compared to 7.7 per cent of total imports in the same quarter in 2021; while in the third quarter of 2020, 2019 and 2018, fuel import accounted for 7.7 per cent, 7.0 per cent, 9.5 per cent and 20.97 per cent, respectively.

Nigeria’s total imports, according to the NBS, in the third quarter of 2022 was N5.664 trillion, compared with N13.241 trillion, while total imports in the same quarter in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, were N4.214 trillion, N3.899 trillion, and N7.593 trillion.

Furthermore, the NBS disclosed that premium motor spirit ranked top among Nigeria’s total imports in the quarter under review, followed by gas oil with N261.595 billion spent on its importation, accounting for 4.62 per cent of total import; while durum wheat imports gulped N252.621 billion, ranking as the third most imported commodity, and accounting for 4.42 per cent of total imports.

Kerosine-type jet fuel, also known as aviation fuel, ranked fourth, as it gulped N93.032 billion of Nigeria’s foreign exchange, accounting for 1.64 per cent of total imports; while used vehicles imports accounted for 1.60 per of total imports, with N90.776 billion, making it to rank the fifth most imported commodity.

Other high-ranking imports were motorcycles, with N59.856 billion, accounting for 1.06 per cent of total imports; filters accounted for 1.05 per cent of total imports, with N59.322 billion; while medicaments import gulped N48.74 billion and accounted for 0.86 per cent of total imports.

Polypropylene import accounted for 0.77 per cent of total imports, with N43.524 billion; gas turbine parts accounted for 0.67 per cent of total imports, with N38.073 billion, while lubricating oil import gulped N33.933 billion, accounting for 0.66 per cent of total import for the third quarter of 2022.