Remove oil subsidy now, World Bank tells Buhari
Category: Nigerian National News
Related Posts via Categories:
Be Our Fan On Facebook
Follow Us @ACKCITY On Twitter
Want updates via;
BB: 568235DD
Channel Pin: C00352CD2
WhatsApp: (234) 08105649346
Advertise your products & services;
Call: (234) 08105649346, 08121807240
E-mail: admin@ackcity.net
Against the backdrop of the current fuel crisis across the country
showing no sign of abating, the World Bank, yesterday, told President
Muhammadu Buhari that the time to remove petroleum subsidy is now.
While the Buhari administration has given hints of its intention to
remove fuel subsidy, many Nigerians, including the organised labour,
have rejected the plan. But in what appears to be a prelude to the
eventual removal of fuel subsidy, President Buhari made no provision for
kerosene subsidy in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and
Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP, which he presented to the National Assembly,
yesterday.
At Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting, the Minister of Budget
and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, while unveiling the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework and the government’s N6 trillion budget proposal
for 2016, said the government was seriously weighing the options between
removing or retaining fuel subsidy next year.
Speaking at the launch of the new edition of Nigeria Economic Report,
the World Bank’s Lead Economist, John Litwack, said the best time to
remove fuel subsidy is now when global crude oil price is at its lowest
level, noting that the Bank foresaw continuous decline in global crude
oil price.
Despite last Friday’s attempt by the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries, OPEC, during its 168th conference to maintain its
production quota so as to stabilize the crude oil market, the price of
the commodity slumped further to $37.89 per barrel on Monday from $38.09
on Friday.
Mr Litwack said now is the best time for the government to scrap the
subsidy, as doing so would not push retail pump price beyond an average
of N100 per litre, or generate the kind of pressure that would
negatively impact on the people beyond what they are currently facing.
According to Litwack: “The fuel subsidy appears to have vast modest
benefits for the majority of citizens, but the costs are quite high.
There is a strong tendency for the cost of fuel subsidy to increase over
time as increasing domestic demand for petrol outpaces growth in oil
output or revenues.
“The $35 billion cost of fuel subsidy during 2010 – 2014 was one of
the reasons Nigeria was unable to accumulate a fiscal reserve in the
Excess Crude Account that could have protected the country from the
recent oil price shock.”
He explained that fuel subsidy obligations were expected to reach 18
per cent of all government oil revenues in 2015, pointing out that if
the current regulated price regime of N87 per litre was maintained,
subsidy was projected to increase to more than 30 per cent by 2018.
Source: Vanguard
Related Posts via Categories:
- No Boko Haram sponsor ’ll go unpunished — FG
- 'Jonathan Would Have Ruined Nigeria If He Was Re-Elected' - Soyinka
- Dasuki, Dokpesi, others charged with money laundering
- UN Hears Petition On Repressive Social Media Bill
- PHOTO: Senator Dino Melaye Stuns Nigerian Senators With Unusual Attire
- “I Don’t See Nigeria Surviving Up To 2019 — Babatunde Gbadamosi
- Ooni Ogunwusi Customizes His Rolls Royce Ahead Of Coronation (Picture)
- Ghanaian President Hurls Insults at Obasanjo During African Forum in UK
- EFCC Fails To Release Dokpesi Over Allegation of N2B Arms Scam
- N600m Arms Scam: EFCC Arrests Ex- presidential Committee Chairman, AVM Atawodi
Be Our Fan On Facebook
Follow Us @ACKCITY On Twitter
Want updates via;
BB: 568235DD
Channel Pin: C00352CD2
WhatsApp: (234) 08105649346
Advertise your products & services;
Call: (234) 08105649346, 08121807240
E-mail: admin@ackcity.net
No comments