The minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, says the Federal Government has suspended the plan to remove fuel subsidy by the end of the first of 2022.
The minister disclosed this on Monday at a meeting with the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, at the National Assembly, as reported by The Guardian.
Mrs Ahmed said the removal of the subsidy anytime this year may worsen inflationary trends in the country.
She said: “We discovered that practically, there is still heightened inflation and that the removal of subsidy would further worsen the situation and impose more difficulties on the citizenry.
“Mr. President does not want to do that. What we are now doing is to continue with the ongoing discussions and consultations in terms of putting in place a number of measures.
“One of these include the roll-out of the refining capacities of the existing refineries and the new ones which would reduce the amount of products that would be imported into the country.
“We, therefore, need to return to the National Assembly to now amend the budget and make additional provision for subsidy from July 22 to whatever period that we agreed was suitable for the commencement of the total removal.”
