Ahead of the June 2023 slated date for the removal of fuel subsidy in the country, the National Economic Council has ordered the suspension of subsidy removal action.
This is coming barely three weeks after the FG said it has secured the sum of $800 million (N371,600,000,000) from the World Bank, as part of a subsidy removal benefit.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ahmed Zainab gave the signal on Thursday, shortly after the National Economic Council, NEC, meeting, chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
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The Finance minister said the NEC concluded in its meeting that it is not a favorable time for the action as the new administration is trying to settle down to governance.
Zainab said the subsidy cannot be removed for now, but noted that discussions on the matter and the necessary preparatory work in conjunction with states and representatives of the incoming administration will not be stoped.
Recall that in January 2022, the finance minister disclosed during the public presentation of the 2023 Federal Government budget that the FG will stop the payment of fuel subsidy by the end of June this year.
She revealed that, the government has made provisions of N3.36trn for fuel subsidy payment to cover the first six months of this year.
This, she had stated, was in line with the 18-month extension announced early 2022.