The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported a surge in the average retail price of a liter of petrol from N195.29 in October 2022 to N630.63 in October 2023, marking a significant 222.92% increase. This information was disclosed in the Petrol Price Watch for October 2023, released in Abuja on Wednesday by the NBS.
In comparison to September 2023, the average retail price experienced a 0.71% rise from N626.21. State-wise, Zamfara topped the list with the highest average retail price of N659.38 per liter, followed closely by Gombe and Borno at N658.33 and N657.27, respectively. Conversely, Lagos, Oyo, and Delta paid the lowest average retail prices at N590.95, N592.19, and N599.38, respectively.
An analysis by zones revealed that the North-East Zone recorded the highest average retail price in October 2023 at N644.16, while the South-West recorded the lowest at N616.81 per liter.
In its Diesel Price Watch Report for October 2023, the NBS highlighted an average retail price of N1004.98 per liter. This represented a 25.45% increase over the N801.09 per liter recorded in October 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the price increased by 12.82% from the N890.80 per liter recorded in September 2023.
The report also detailed state-wise variations, with Plateau recording the highest average diesel price in October 2023 at N1150.00 per liter, followed by Nasarawa at N1138.00 and Benue at N1091.67. In contrast, Rivers State had the lowest price at N824.44 per liter, followed by Borno at N827.27 and Kebbi State at N845.00 per liter.
Zone-wise analysis indicated that the North-Central had the highest diesel price of N1090.69 per liter, while the North-East recorded the lowest at N947.32 per liter.