BREAKING: Senate Increases 2018 Oil Price Benchmark

The Nigerian Senate has increased the oil price benchmark for the 2018 budget.

The benchmark was raised from the $45 per barrel as proposed by the Federal Government to $47 per barrel.

The decision was taken at the plenary on Tuesday following the consideration and adoption of the report by its Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriations, and National Planning and Economic Affairs on the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

The MTEF is an annual, rolling three year-expenditure planning. It sets out the medium-term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans can be developed and refined.

MTEF also contains outcome criteria for the purpose of performance monitoring.