Firm blames costly fuel spending in Nigeria to COVID-19

MASTERCARD has said says fuel spending higher in Nigeria and Egypt compared to 2019 peak, a sign that some economies are reopening at a faster rate.

  The firm made the disclosure in its Post COVID-19 Recovery Insight issued by its Chief Economist for the Middle East and Africa (MEA), David Mann, yesterday in Lagos.

  According to the report, although global travel has remained uneven, there has been a rebound in ground travel and pick-up in domestic flight bookings showing encouraging signs. It also includes the balance between leisure and business, local and long-distance travel, saving and spending. The report also looked at the spending categories seeing an uptick and the signal for travel recovery.

  “There are indicators of recovery across some markets in the Middle East and Africa, for example, gas spending in Nigeria and Egypt are already above 2019 peaks,” the report said.

  MasterCard added that Global gasoline spending is up by 13 per cent from its previous peak in 2019. Adding that in Egypt and Nigeria, spendings at gas stations are already higher than their 2019 peaks, while in the UAE and in Kenya, they have equalised previous levels.