Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said Nigeria will maintain its expensive but popular gas subsidy until mid-2023 and has set aside 3.36 trillion naira ($7.5 billion) for the spend.

The state-owned NNPC announced that Africa's largest economy spent 2.91 trillion naira ($7 billion) on a gasoline subsidy between January and September 2022. A cost that the government blamed for the reduction in public finances. The 2023 budget of 21.83 trillion naira ($49 billion) was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, January 3, after parliamentarians increased the size by 6.4% and raised the oil price hypothesis.

For the Minister of Finance, “the gasoline subsidy will be maintained until mid-2023 based on the 18-month extension announced in early 2022.” Buhar, for his part, said in October that the country would end the gas subsidy in 2023, when he leaves office after Nigerians voted for a new leader in February.