An economist, Bismark Rewane, has faulted the $75 per barrel crude oil price benchmark for Nigeria’s N47.9 trillion 2025 budget proposal.
Rewane, the Executive Director of Financial Derivatives Company, made this known in a interview on Channels Television on Friday.
This comes as the Federal Executive Council on Thursday announced a N47.9 trillion 2025 budget proposal.
Key indicators of the budget proposal showed that the Nigerian government pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, oil production at 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd), and the exchange rate was pegged at N1,400 per dollar.
Reacting, Rewane said that with the emergence of President-Elect Donald Trump in the United States and other global macroeconomic indicators, Nigeria’s 2025 oil price benchmark should be brought down to near $65 per barrel to allow for headroom.
Rewane, however, noted that the budget proposal is generally useful to achieve macroeconomic stability in 2025.
“I think the budget benchmark for oil price must be brought down near $65 per barrel so that there will be some headroom.
“Generally speaking, the budget is something that can be useful and can be worked with to achieve macroeconomic stability in 2025,” he said.
