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From Amaechi Ogbonna, Marrakesh
Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, (NLNG) Limited, Mr. Philip Mshelbila, has listed Federal Government’s import tax, Value Added Tax and a chronic shortage of foreign exchange that most importers face among the key variables behind the rising cost of cooking gas in Nigeria.
He urged the federal government to take a critical look at its taxes and improve access to foreign exchange if it wants Nigerians to pay less for cooking gas.
His explanation comes as a kilogram of cooking gas had since risen beyond N1,200 in the open market, with most consumers lamenting the surge ahead of the Yuletide.
At an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing African Investment Forum with the theme: “Unlocking the Africa Value Chain”, the NLNG boss said: “In terms of pricing, I cannot speak about the backend of the market. But you should understand that our supply makes only 40 per cent of local market demand, the remaining 60 percent has to be imported and many of these importers are struggling to source forex.
LPG is also subject to import duty and VAT and that is one area that Federal Government has to look at if we want to lower the price of the product.
“Two years ago, we took a decision that our butane and propane will be sold to the local market as cooking gas and we have kept to that.
“We have struggled with propane because the local market cannot take all our production. We have just a few customers that can take our propane, which includes Indorama, a private company,” he explained.
