Petrol, Diesel Imports Drop After Border Closure

The nation's imports of petrol and diesel fell by about 11 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively in September, latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.

The decline in the imports of the petroleum products followed the partial closure on August 22 of the nation's land borders with countries such as Benin and Niger in order to check to smuggling of contraband into the country.

The volume of the Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, imported into the country dropped to 1.46 billion litres in September, down from 1.64 billion litres in August and 1.99 billion litres in July.

The NBS data showed that petrol imports stood at 2.24 billion litres in January; 1.56 billion litres in February; 1.07 billion litres in March; 2.07 billion litres in April; 2.01 billion litres in May, and 1.53 billion litres in June.

The country imported a total of 5.09 billion litres of petrol in the third quarter of the year, down from 5.61 billion litres in the previous quarter.

A total of 4.89 billion litres of petrol was distributed by trucks to all states in Q3, compared to 5.18 billion litres in Q2, according to the NBS.