Business Nigeria to Lower Oil Benchmark for 2015 Budget

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LequteMan

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Nigeria is planning to lower its assumed benchmark oil price for next year's budget by $5 per barrel to $73 and use reserves to meet ongoing government spending, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Sunday.

``We are proposing a benchmark price of 73 dollars per barrel and, based on that, we are reviewing the entire MTEF and we have decided to maintain the same quantity at 2.27 million barrels per day.

``This will mean a drop in projected oil revenues from N7.287 trillion to N6.833 trillion which also indicate that we need to do something about aggregate expenditure in the budget.

``Even though the drop in oil price is a serious challenge, it is an opportunity for the country to focus on greater diversification and refocus efforts towards the non-oil sector,” she said.

"We think that for now, let us bring the benchmark price down to $73 then have a series of additional measures so that at each price it falls to, we would be able to kick in appropriate measures to keep this economy going," Okonjo-Iweala told reporters.

A lower assumed oil price means a tighter budget in 2015, though this is unexpected given it will be an election year, when politicians' demands for funds tend to surge. President Goodluck Jonathan faces a presidential poll in February.

She also projected a 2015 expenditure of 4.66 trillion naira, down 2.92 percent from 2014, on revenues of 6.83 trillion naira, lower than the 7.287 trillion initially pencilled in.

#Nigeria #OkonjoIweala

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