Federal authorities on Thursday initiated an upward review of petrol price to N212 per litre, raising fresh economic concerns for the country’s impoverished households.

The fuel pricing regulator PPPRA said in its template released on Thursday night that a litre of fuel would now be sold for prices ranging from N209 to N212 per litre for March. This was against N186 the crucial commodity retailed for in February.

The PPPRA said the landing cost of petrol in March would be N189.61 per litre as against N163.74 in February.

The PPPRA has been setting guidelines for petrol sales since the Buhari administration announced partial deregulation of the oil sector, but the government maintains control of policies that determine ultimate retail costs.

The new hikes come barely a day after President Muhammadu Buhari promised to return fuel price to below N100 for Nigerians.

Also on March 1, the NNPC issued a statement in which it categorically told Nigerians that there would be no new hikes.

The state-owned firm said the government has enough fuel in the dump to last Nigerians for several weeks, urging citizens to desist from hoarding or panic-buying.

Mr. Buhari met the price at N87 per litre when he assumed office in 2015, and has increased it periodically ever since, despite appeals from Nigerians that the biting costs would worsen inflation and living conditions for a country already designated as the world’s poverty capital.