Buhari sets up committee to review budget benchmark

March 9, 2020 3:59 pm

PRESIDENT BUHARI INAUGURATES AFCFTA A; President Muhammadu Buhari during the inauguration of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) held at the Council Chambers, State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. DEC 20 2019

President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a committee to review the 2020 budget crude oil benchmark.

This is coming after the president held an emergency meeting over the falling crude oil price.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget and national planning; Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum; Mele Kyari, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Clement Agba, the minister of state for budget and national planning were at the meeting.

At the meeting, the president set up a committee to be headed by Ahmed to review the crude oil budget benchmark.

Other members of the committee are Emefiele, Sylva, Kyari and Agba.

The committee is expected to submit its report on Wednesday at the federal executive council meeting.

The 2020 budget proposal was prepared with $53 as the crude oil budget benchmark.

The approved budget has $57 as the crude oil benchmark.

As at 4:20pm on Monday, crude oil was trading at $36.85 per barrel.

TheCable had reported that oil prices tumbled after talks between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies collapsed.

Russia disagreed with a proposal for new production cuts that would last till December 2020 and Saudi Arabia has begun to offer discounts to its crude oil buyers.

The current OPEC production cuts would expire in March.