Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Minister of Finance said Federal Government would continue with the proposed 65 dollars oil benchmark for the 2015 budget in spite of volatility in the global oil price.

Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this at the public presentation of the 2015 budget on Wednesday in Abuja.

“We have put the following benchmarks which are operated in the 2015 budget; oil production remains at 2.27 million barrel per day, as I said, benchmark oil price at 65 dollars per barrel.

“We are using an exchange rate of N165 to the dollar and we are projecting a fiscal deficit N755 billion or 0.79 per cent of Gross Domestic product (GDP).

“And we are keeping domestic borrowing at a downward trend, the same as last year at about N570 billion which is comparable to the N572 billion for 2014,’’ she said.

According to her, GDP growth is projected at 5.5 per cent as also projected by the National Bureau of Statistics.

This, she said, was one percentage point lower than what had projected with the earlier 78 dollars oil benchmark.

“We had projected 6.355 per cent but we are now at about 5.5 per cent, somewhat lower,’’ she said.

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http://monitor9ja.com/2014/12/2015-budget-fg-maintains-65-dollars-oil-price-introduces-charges-luxury-goods/