Maintaining PMS Subsidy Payments to Put more Pressure on Nigeria’s Fiscal Burden
The cost of the PMS subsidy rose from 4 percent of Federation oil and gas revenue captured by the NNPC in 2020 to 35 percent in 2021, an untenable fiscal burden for a country with Nigeria’s enormous infrastructure deficit and vast underserved population. Moreover, the PMS subsidy distorts efficiency incentives, promoting its nonessential or inefficient use. The subsidy also creates a very large price differential between Nigeria and neighboring countries that encourages smuggling, benefitting criminal syndicates at the expense of the public.