Federal Government to peg oil price benchmark at $42.5 in 2017

The Federal Government will base the 2017 budget on an oil price benchmark of $42.5 per barrel. Oil price currently stands at about $48.9 per barrel.

This is one of the key highlights of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2017 to 2019, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council, in Abuja, yesterday.

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, budgets 2018 and 2019 will be based on benchmarks of $45 per barrel and $50 per barrel, respectively.

Similarly, oil production projections have been put at 2.2 million barrels per day for 2017, 2.3 million barrels per day for 2018 and 2.4 million barrels per day for 2019.

Sen Udoma also disclosed that the MTEF, which would soon be forawarded to the National Assembly, contained growth rate outlooks of 3 per cent for 2017, 4.26 per cent for 2018 and 4.04 per cent for 2019.