Nigeria plans to reintroduce the old petrol price of $0.49 (N97) per liter in 2016 in line with the country’s policy to cut oil subsidies amid the global oil price slump, Premium Times reported.

According to Nigerian Petroleum Minister, Ibe Kachikwu, the economy can no longer support the current price of $0.44 per liter. However, he expressed confidence that the crude price would increase in January 2016 to about $50 per barrel, followed by up to $70 per barrel in 2017.

Nigeria’s oil production has exceeded 2mb/d since August 2015 over stringent monitoring and pipeline security management, the ministry informed.

Nonetheless, in November, Nigeria’s daily production drop to the level of 250,000 barrels, which made the country lose its position as the Africa’s largest oil producer to Angola, according to OPEC’s latest data, ThisDayLive reported.