The average retail price paid by consumers for petrol rose by 42.63 per cent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The bureau said this in its “Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch” report for March 2023 released on Friday.
The NBS said the average retail price paid by consumers for petrol in March 2023 was N264.29, indicating an increase of 42.63 per cent relative to the value recorded in March 2022 (N185.30).
The bureau also said that comparing the average price value with the previous month (i.e. February 2023), the average retail price increased by 0.20 per cent from N263.76.
On state profile analysis, the report said Imo State had the highest average retail price for petrol at N332.67, followed by Taraba at N330.00 and Borno at N324.55.
On the other hand, Benue recorded the lowest average retail price for petrol at N195.00, followed by Plateau at N196.79 and Nasarawa at N197.50.
The NBS said the highest average retail price was recorded in the South-East at N306.00, while the North-Central had the lowest at N205.10.
Diesel
In its Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) Price Watch report for March 2023, the NBS said the average retail price of diesel paid by consumers increased by 55.90 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
The bureau said the price moved from a lower cost of N539.32 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year to a higher cost of N836.81 per litre in March 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the NBS said an increase of 0.47 per cent was recorded from N836.91 in the preceding month of February to an average of N840.81 in March 2023.
According to the report, the top three States with the highest average price of the product in March 2023 include Bauchi at N910.46, Abuja at N889.44 and Adamawa at N880.33.
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It said the top three lowest prices were recorded in Bayelsa at N768.04, Katsina at N779.78 and Edo at N797.14.
“The Zonal representation of the average price of diesel shows that North East Zone has the highest price of N856.42 while South South Zone has the lowest price N816.92 when compared with other Zones,” it said.
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