The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has revealed in a new monthly template that the price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, has reached N212.6 per litre.
But the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had promised that petrol price would remain static in March to allow smooth negotiations between the government and labour unions.
The PPPRA template follows the increasing price of crude at the international market as well as instability in exchange rate.
According to the template which the PPPRA released midnight on Thursday, petrol is expected to sell at a lower retail price of N209.61 and at an upper retail price of N212.61.
Nigerian marketers usually use the upper band for pump price.
The expected ex-depot price, as seen in the template, is N206.42, while the landing cost is N189.61.
With ex-depot price standing at N206.42 per litre, the March template shows that the landing cost for petrol per litre is N189.61.
This is despite the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation saying there won’t be any change in the price of PMS in the month of March.
First published in PUNCH