Nigeria denies plan to review oil benchmark for budget

The Nigerian government had no plans to review the oil benchmark for the 2015 budget, Minister Of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Tuesday.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the minister's spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu.

"We are not reviewing the budget benchmark price at the moment. The price of oil is still quite volatile and we do not know how it will pan out," he said.

"We are taking a scenario-based approach in handling the 2015 budget," he added.

According to him, there are additional measures to take care of the sliding oil prices.

He also said that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the country's development was currently receiving attention at the National Assembly.

"We have been working together with our lawmakers to ensure that we steer the country in the right direction during this period," Nwabuikwu said.

Last month, the Nigerian government proposed cutting this year' s budget by 8 percent and reduced its benchmark oil price to 65 U. S. dollars a barrel from last year's 77.50 dollars a barrel in the face of tumbling crude prices.

On Nov. 16, the minister cut the proposed benchmark price to 73 dollars a barrel for 2015, down 5.8 percent from 204 budgeted price.

Global oil prices have plunged more than a third since June, roiling Nigeria's markets, eroding foreign currency reserves and prompting policy makers to devalue the naira for the first time in three years.

With crude exports accounting for about 70 percent of government income, the revenue slump may force authorities to curb spending in an election year. Endi