Softly, Softly

Nigeria’s accelerating inflation puts the skids on plans to end fuel subsidy

By David Whitehouse

Reserved for subscribers

Posted on April 21, 2023 11:12

Cars queue to buy petrol at the NNPC Mega petrol station in Abuja, Nigeria March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

The upward march of Nigerian inflation means that scrapping the fuel subsidy in one go is unlikely to be viable, economists say.

The country in April secured an $800m loan from the World Bank to cushion the end of the universal support. The government of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari has committed to ending the subsidy before handing over power in May, while president-elect Bola Tinubu has said he will scrap the payments.

There's more to this story

Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.

Subscribe Now

cancel anytime

Already a a subscriber Sign In

More Business

© Tanzania is constructing the Central Corridor Standard Gauge Railway. (photo: twitter)

missing links

Tanzania’s Standard Gauge Railway: Most advanced, but victim of minor private sector investment Tanzania’s standard gauge railway project – that seeks to open up quicker transport corridors towards the vast hinterland of Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, and...

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, in Paris on 10 November 2021. © Damien Grenon for JA

leverage accelerator

AfDB tackles climate change at annual meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh More than 4,000 people have travelled to Egypt to attend the 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and ...

© Eskom technicians perform maintenance in Villiers, South Africa, on May 10, 2023. (Shiraaz MOHAMED / AFP)

Electric shock

South Africa prepares for the worst in load shedding It only took one statement to bring South Africa’s Eskom shares into the red. On Thursday, 18 May, Calib Cassim, acting CEO of the publicly-run nation...

© The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters building in Washington, U.S., April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

money matters

African Debt: Three proposals to reform the SDR system Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), shares insights on new proposa...