LAGOS, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 – Gasoline importers can make money under the current price cap of 145 naira per litre, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said in an interview with the local press, casting further doubt on calls for higher prices.
Emefiele said the Central Bank and state oil company NNPC have an agreement through which international oil and oil services companies sell all their foreign currency through a mechanism created to funnel the money directly to importers who need dollars to buy gasoline.
Under that mechanism, oil companies sell their dollars at an average of the interbank rate on the previous day, which Emefiele said means “the average cannot be more than between 305 naira (to the dollar) and 310 naira.”
“If a marketer procures forex at an average price of between 305 naira or 310 naira, he will still make a profit and sells that petrol at 145 naira per litre,” Emefiele told journalists.
Some have called for higher prices, or removal of the cap, but President Muhammadu Buhari has so far refused.
