FG spent $36.3bn on fuel importation in 5 years –CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the Federal Government spent $36.3 billion on importation of petroleum products between 2013 and 2017.
The apex bank made the disclosure at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee investigating the state of the country’s refineries, their turn-around maintenance to date and regular/modular licensed refineries.
CBN Director of Research, Ganiyu Amao, who represented the bank, said the fuel importation figure was part of $119.41 billion the federal government spent on importation of commodities during the period.
Amao said efforts by the bank to intervene in foreign exchange market were usually curtailed by excessive outflow of foreign exchange. He said the trend exerted undue pressure on the nation’s external reserve and induced depreciation of the naira.
“Data from CBN shows that from 2013 to 2017, total foreign exchange committed to imports in the country stood at 119.41 billion dollars, while total foreign exchange committed to imports in oil sector stood at 36.37 billion dollars.
“This represents 13.5 per cent of all imports made by the country. It greatly exerts serious pressure on our external reserve and depreciates the value of our local currency,” he said.
Amao also disclosed that domestic consumption of fuel rose from 4.5 million metric tonnes to 23.9 million metric tonnes in 2013 and dropped to 2.6 million metric tonnes in 2016.
-Sun