Nigeria adjusts oil benchmark downwards to $65 per barrel.            

Following persistent drop in global oil prices, the Nigerian government on Thursday resubmitted the 2015-2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) with a revised oil benchmark of $65 a barrel and slashing next year’s budget by another 12 percent.Oil prices have fallen more than 30 percent since June this year, but Light Brent crude rose 44 cents to $70.98 a barrel on Thursday.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Thursday in Abuja that the agencies had been given targets as part of measures to boost revenue for the economy.
“They have been mandated to deliver 25 percent of their gross revenues to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as opposed to the past practice of their net revenue,” she said.
In the same vein, Nigeria’s oil minister Deziani Allison-Madueke, told State House correspondents on Wednesday that the change of direction was necessary to enable Nigeria stay competitive in the dwindling international crude oil market.
She warned that in order to stay afloat, Nigeria could no longer afford to do business as usual considering the prevailing decline in global demand for the product.