The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria says it is expecting that the Dangote refinery will reduce the price of its diesel further to say about N700 per litre.

The National Vice President of IPMAN, Hammed Fashola, stated this on Wednesday while appreciating the Dangote refinery for reducing the price of diesel from over N1,200 to N1,000.

Fashola, in an interview with our correspondent, maintained that the marketers have high expectations that the price of diesel would still go down.

According to him, the rebound of the naira against the dollar will bring about an appreciable reduction in the diesel price.

“It is a good development, a welcome development. That is what we expected. Even we are still expecting that diesel will still come down more. Because if you look at the dollar rate to the naira now, the currency is doing well against the dollar. The exchange rate now is almost N1,000 on the black market. We still expect that the dollar will come down more,” he stated

The IPMAN boss explained that the price would be reduced because the challenges of shipment, Customs duties and others have been removed since the product is being produced locally.

“When you look at the diesel being produced here, there are lots of factors that have come to play; like the issue of shipment, the issue of tax, Customs and others. All those are not there again. So, we marketers, we are expecting diesel to come to like N700 per litre; that is our prayer and at that level, it will be a blessing to everybody. That is what we are looking at. What we produce here must be quite different from what is imported. That is what we expected,” Fashola submitted.

He spoke further that, “We all supported Dangote, we all prayed for him. We appreciate that the price is coming down, we still expect that the price will come down more and it will be affordable for citizens.

Dangote began the sale of diesel about two weeks ago, crashing the cost of diesel from N1,600/litre to 1,250/litre.

Last Tuesday, the refinery announced another price cut, saying the fuel would now be sold at N1,000/litre.

Analysts list benefits

An economist, Femi Oladele, welcomed the price cut, saying, “This price cut is good news. Production cost should drop significantly and this should also affect the cost of products and services.”

Some businesses that shut down due to exorbitant costs might resurface while new businesses will emerge.”

He also pointed out the potential savings in foreign exchange, which could bolster the nation’s reserves.

The economist expressed optimism about the future, predicting, “If this trajectory continues, we should see a significant increase in economic activities and a drop in inflation.”

Also, an analyst at Sankore Investment Limited, Jonathan Thomas, highlighted the impact of fuel prices on the economy.

“The price of fuel is one of the major determinants of the general price level of goods and services. Petroleum products such as diesel are being used by plants in factories for the production of goods and services. Diesel is also used by heavy vehicles for the transportation of goods and raw materials which are used for production. Therefore, the latest development is expected to impact the total cost of production,” he explained.