Nigeria's fuel subsidies top $1 billion in August

The cost of Nigeria's fuel subsidies rose to 525.714 billion naira ($1.22 billion) in August, bringing the total amount spent this year to 2.568 trillion naira, according to figures submitted to the government by state oil company NNPC.

The ballooning costs of keeping oil prices low in Africa's most populous nation are straining the budget and eating into the revenues of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). While Nigeria's parliament in April approved 4 trillion naira in gasoline subsidies for this year, the government in January backtracked on a pledge to end subsidies to avoid protests ahead of presidential elections in February 2023. The NNPC has not sent any money to the federal government this year, largely due to subsidy costs. The August bill compared with 448.782 billion naira in July, according to a document NNPC submitted to the Appropriation Committee of the Federation on Friday. According to information presented by the regulator, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, at the same meeting, part of the increased cost was due to more oil supply per day, which rose to 71.8 million liters, up about 10 percent from July. Oil production averaged 1.18 million barrels per day in August, well below the country's OPEC quota of 1.8 million barrels per day, largely due to theft from pipelines restricting production. Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!