2020 Budget: Nigeria To Further Cut Oil Benchmark To $20 Per Barrel

The Federal Government   is amending the 2020 budget again to assume an oil benchmark of  $20 per barrel, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, has said.
The oil benchmark for the budget had earlier been slashed from $57 to $30  per barrel and if reduced to $20, it will be the second cut in the year.

There are fears that some Nigerian crude grades could sell for as low as $10 in May,  hence the decision to further cut the budget’s oil benchmark.

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Reuters reports that Nigeria’s economy, which emerged from a recession in 2017, was already contending with low growth of around 2% before oil prices plummeted. 
The country  relies on crude sales for around 90% of foreign exchange earnings and more than half of government’s revenue.

“We are in the process of an amendment that is bringing down the revenue indicator to $20 per barrel,” said Ahmed in a web conference about the impact of low oil prices on the country.

Ahmed also said Nigerian oil and gas projects would be delivered much later than originally planned due to upstream budget cuts.

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