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Pump prices were very uneven after war shut the Strait of Hormuz
UN News reported the findings on 4 November 2026. UNCTAD says the war that shut the Strait of Hormuz in February pushed oil prices up everywhere, but the cost at the pump has been very uneven.
In this story
- Diesel in Nigeria rose by about 83 per cent between late February and the end of August, against nine per cent in Ireland, according to a new report from UNCTAD, the UN trade and development agency.
- UNCTAD notes that futures markets suggest oil will stay expensive until the end of the year, which would keep fuel and transport bills high for businesses and households.
- UNCTAD stressed that governments already under budget pressure therefore have less room to protect households.
- UN News gives price changes for only four countries, so how the full range of countries compares is not covered in its account.
Diesel in Nigeria rose by about 83 per cent between late February and the end of August, against nine per cent in Ireland, according to a new report from UNCTAD, the UN trade and development agency. UN News reported the findings on 4 November 2026.
UNCTAD says the war that shut the Strait of Hormuz in February pushed oil prices up everywhere, but the cost at the pump has been very uneven. Gasoline rose by about 51 per cent in Myanmar and by three per cent in Sweden over the same period.
Why the same shock lands differently
The report attributes the gap partly to local conditions. Taxes, subsidies, domestic pricing rules and exchange rates all shape what people end up paying, so one global price produces very different pump prices.
The global price itself moved sharply. Brent crude, the most widely used benchmark, rose from around $70 a barrel in January to over $120 in March, according to UN News's account of the report. The strait normally carries a fifth of the world's oil. Prices eased between April and June as diplomatic talks progressed. They climbed again when negotiations collapsed and fighting resumed. UNCTAD notes that futures markets suggest oil will stay expensive until the end of the year, which would keep fuel and transport bills high for businesses and households.
Import dependence and knock-on costs
UNCTAD says economies that depend heavily on imported fuel are particularly exposed, because they must spend more to meet their energy needs. In 2023, net fuel imports, meaning spending on fuel imports minus earnings from fuel exports, amounted to a quarter of Cabo Verde's GDP and nearly a fifth of Lebanon's. A higher fuel bill leaves less money for other imports such as food, medicines and equipment. UNCTAD stressed that governments already under budget pressure therefore have less room to protect households.
The effects reach people who never buy fuel directly. Higher diesel prices make it more costly to transport goods, which raises their prices. UNCTAD also cited earlier research on developing economies that found a 25 cent rise in fuel prices per litre could reduce household purchasing power by more than five percent on average.
What UNCTAD recommends
The report calls for more varied energy supplies and investment in affordable renewables to reduce exposure to future shocks. It says wind and solar are not vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and cannot be depleted. It also notes that in over 90 per cent of cases, renewables are less expensive than the cheapest new fossil fuel alternatives.
UN News gives price changes for only four countries, so how the full range of countries compares is not covered in its account.