The Bolivian government announced Wednesday that it had placed state oil company YPFB under temporary supervision, citing problems with fuel imports and distribution amid a severe supply crisis.

Long lines of drivers queuing for scarce fuel have become a regular sight in Bolivia, where President Rodrigo Paz took power last November on a pledge to end the worst economic crisis in decades.

A government decree, dated Tuesday, orders YPFB’s “extraordinary, transparent and temporary” takeover to “protect the interests of the State.”

The measure could last for up to 180 days and also aims to evaluate how Bolivia currently imports and distributes fuel.

The president’s office said in a Facebook post Wednesday that the move would “restore efficiency, strengthen fuel supply and bring transparency to the logistics chain.”

A commission made up of several ministerial representatives will oversee the management of the state-owned enterprise.

Hydrocarbons Minister Marcelo Blanco acknowledged to reporters that “regular measures we had taken didn’t work” and attributed the fuel shortage to “logistical shortcomings in YPFB’s import and distribution” processes.

The Ministry of Hydrocarbons also announced that it intends to gradually strip YPFB of its role in fuel marketing so the state firm can focus on extraction, exploration and refining.

The government last week hiked diesel prices from 9.80 bolivianos (about 80 US cents) a litre to 18 bolivianos (US$1.50) in an effort to curb fuel smuggling to other countries, which it says is aggravating shortages.

Farmers angry at the decision blocked roads in the northeastern Beni department and Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s economic powerhouse.

The popular dissent tactic defied a state of emergency which Paz declared in June to take the wind out of massive protests against his administration.

The US-backed leader came to power after decades of socialist rule.

His attempts to salvage the economy, such as the scrapping of fuel subsidies in December, caused prices to double and have been unpopular in some circles.

The lack of fuel subsidies drained Bolivia’s foreign currency reserves instead of ending the long lines at gas stations, as Paz had promised.

Paz is currently in talks with international lenders over a multibillion-dollar bailout.

AFP

Source: punchng.com

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited remitted N7.91tn to the Federation Account between January and July 2026, even as its crude oil and condensate production fell to 1.68 million barrels per day in July.

The figures were contained in the NNPC’s July 2026 operational and financial performance report released on Wednesday.

The company said it recorded N3.09tn in revenue and N279bn in profit after tax during the period under review.

However, crude oil and condensate production declined from 1.73 million barrels per day in May to 1.72 million barrels per day in June and further to 1.68 million barrels per day in July.

NNPC attributed the July decline to operational disruptions across several assets.

“July crude oil production was affected by a combination of operational disruptions across several assets, including facility outages, equipment unavailability, pipeline incidents, and production constraints,” the company stated.

The decline in output also reflected lower crude oil and condensate sales, which stood at 22.53 million barrels in July, comprising 21.53 million barrels of crude and one million barrels of condensate, compared with 28.23 million barrels in June.

The company said it was implementing measures to reverse the decline and improve production.

“Production improvement efforts will focus on sustaining high facility uptime through effective preventive maintenance programmes and minimizing unplanned downtime,” NNPC stated.

It said the measures would include optimising export operations at FEPL and Nembe EP, developing incremental production opportunities and strengthening operational reliability across key facilities.

“Additional measures include the activation of tandem offloading operations at Akpo and Erha to enhance export flexibility and the restoration of barging operations at Obodo to improve production evacuation and sustain output,” the company added.

On gas infrastructure, NNPC reported 100 per cent availability of its upstream pipeline network.

It also said pre-commissioning activities had been completed on the River Niger Crossing section of the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline, with first gas initially targeted for August 2026.

For the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, NNPC said construction and installation works were at an advanced stage to facilitate early gas delivery to Abuja in 2026.

The company put AKK pipeline availability at 95 per cent, while NNPC Retail’s petrol stations recorded 52 per cent availability, with distribution varying across regions.

NNPC also disclosed that natural gas production stood at 7.49 billion standard cubic feet per day, while gas sales were 4.6bscf/d.

The company cautioned that the reported figures remained subject to reconciliation.

“All production, sales and financial figures are provisional and subject to reconciliation with relevant stakeholders,” it stated.

Source: punchng.com

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Investors pumped about N6.8tn into Nigeria’s manufacturing sector over the past decade, but the increase in capital coincided with an erosion in consumers’ purchasing power, limiting demand for locally produced goods.

Exclusive data obtained from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria showed that annual manufacturing investment rose from N489.6bn in 2015 to N1.33tn in 2025, reflecting increased capital commitments to the sector despite a challenging operating environment.

The data showed that investors put N489.44bn into manufacturing in 2016, N508.98bn in 2017, N552.64bn in 2018 and N496.11bn in 2019. Investment dropped dramatically to N118.52bn in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economic activities, supply chains and business operations. The sector recovered to N217.22bn in 2021 before rising to N427.18bn in 2022.

The recovery gathered pace in 2023, with manufacturing investment climbing to N658.81bn as economic activities strengthened. By 2025, annual investment had more than doubled from the 2023 level to N1.33tn.

However, the increase in investment has not translated into a corresponding expansion in consumer demand, as high inflation, currency depreciation and rising production costs have squeezed household incomes.

Inflation rose from 13.22 per cent in 2020 to 28.92 per cent in 2023 following the removal of the petrol subsidy and foreign exchange reforms. Headline inflation subsequently reached a 28-year high of 34.19 per cent in June 2024 and remained above 30 per cent for much of the year before easing to 15.15 per cent by December 2025.

Despite the decline in inflation, manufacturers continued to face weak consumer demand and elevated operating costs. Manufacturers’ inventory increased to N1.07tn in the second half of 2025 from N1.04tn in the first half, suggesting that businesses continued to contend with the challenge of converting production into sales.

Inventory in manufacturing represents finished goods, raw materials and other items held by companies for production or future sales.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, said Nigeria’s industrialisation drive remained critical to economic transformation but warned that the country had yet to achieve the level of industrial development required to significantly reduce its dependence on primary commodities and imports.

“Industrialisation is the engine room of economic transformation. It creates quality jobs, deepens value addition, strengthens export competitiveness and reduces vulnerability to external shocks,” Yusuf said.

He, however, noted that Nigeria had delivered only modest industrial outcomes despite years of investment.

Although the N6.8tn invested in Nigerian manufacturing over 10 years appears substantial in naira terms, currency depreciation significantly reduces its value when measured in dollars.

The total investment is equivalent to roughly $5.2bn at the current exchange rate, highlighting the relatively small scale of capital formation in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector compared with larger industrial economies.

For instance, South African manufacturers recorded about $59.3bn in capital formation in 2025 alone, according to data from the South African Reserve Bank.

Rising costs

More than 100 manufacturing companies have shut down over the past decade, with firms such as Surest Foam Limited, Mufex, Framan Industries, MZM Continental, Nipol Industries, Moak Industries and Stone Industries among those that have ceased operations.

Manufacturers have blamed a combination of unreliable electricity, limited access to credit, poor infrastructure, weak consumer demand, high production costs and frequent policy changes. For some investors, energy costs have proved particularly damaging.

The General Manager of Louis Carter Industries, a plastics manufacturing company that has since become moribund, Ndubuisi Okoli, said inadequate electricity supply contributed significantly to the company’s collapse.

“The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company was not providing us with adequate power. That was our major reason for going under,” he said.

Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer of Moak Enterprises, Olatunde Akintunde, said the high raw material costs contributed to the closure of his bottled-water business in 2021. According to him, the cost of raw materials increased fourfold, pushing production costs beyond sustainable levels.

“It was difficult for us because the cost of our raw materials increased fourfold, leading to high cost of production. The business was no longer sustainable, so we had to go,” Akintunde said.

Credit squeeze

Despite improvements in the foreign exchange market following reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria, manufacturers continue to grapple with other structural constraints.

MAN data showed that manufacturers’ bank loans fell by 23 per cent to N6.6tn in 2025, limiting access to the long-term financing required to expand productive capacity.

At the same time, manufacturers spent N1.34tn on alternative electricity in 2025, up from N1.1tn a year earlier.

The Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, also identified taxation as an emerging concern for manufacturers, particularly following the implementation of four new tax laws from January 2026.

He said the reforms had intensified discussions between the government and private sector over whether taxation should support productivity or add to the burden on businesses.

Ajayi-Kadir had previously highlighted high energy costs, poor access to credit and infrastructure deficiencies as major constraints on manufacturing.

What investors need

Yusuf said Nigeria must move beyond attracting capital into manufacturing and create conditions that allow investors to operate profitably and competitively.

He called for power sector reforms capable of delivering reliable and affordable electricity, alongside faster investment in rail infrastructure to reduce logistics costs.

He also urged the government to strengthen development finance institutions so they can provide long-term industrial financing at concessionary rates.

According to him, government procurement should give greater priority to locally manufactured goods, while executive orders on local content should be backed by enforceable measures.

He further called for urgent action on insecurity, warning that attacks and disruptions were limiting access to raw materials, restricting market expansion and undermining investors’ confidence across manufacturing value chains.

Source: punchng.com

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