Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zach Adedeji, has said the federal government’s monthly spending on petrol imports will drop by at least $610 million when sales of crude oil to Dangote and other local refineries in naira, begins.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday gave approval for sale of the commodity to local refiners in the country’s currency.
According to Adedeji, the government currently spends about $660 million monthly on fuel importation, amounting to about $7.92 billion every year.
He said with the new deal, pressure on foreign exchange will reduce as the government spending will reduce by a minimum of 90 per cent and it will save $610 million monthly and approximately $7.92 billion annually.
“This will also make economic stability a reality because there will no longer rely on the fluctuation in forex.
“Just to be specific, in terms of benefits, one which is major is the reduction in foreign exchange pressure. We utilize $660 million per month, totalling $7.92 billion annually.
“With the new approval that we have, this will reduce to a maximum of $50 million per month which is annualized to be only $600 million. This is a total reduction of 94% and saving us $7.32 billion,” the FIRS boss said.
