2020 Budget : Senate increaes oil price benchmark to $28

In a bid to give frame to the implementation of the  2020 appropriation bill, the Senate on Tuesday, jerked up to $28 per barrel, the oil price benchmark.
Recall that the executive in the revised Medium Term Expenditure Framework ( MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper ( FSP) forwarded to the Senate  for approval has propised $25 as benchmark. 
It also reduced from 1.9million barrel per day to 1.8million barrel per day , oil production proposed by the executive in the MTEF/FSP documents.
This is as it declared monies kept in the Natural Resources Development Accounts as waste.
These decisions  were sequel to consideration and adoption of report of its committee on Finance , mandated to work on the revised MTEF/FSP documents by the executive .
However other critical parameters like   exchange rate of N360 to a US dollar ,  14 .43 inflation growth rate ,  4.42 GDP  growth rate were retained .
Other assumptions retained are  N5.09 Trillion FGN’s revenue , N10 .51 trillion  proposed expenditure ,  N4.95 Trillion fiscal deficit , N4.17 Trillion  new borrowings ( including Foreign and domestic Borrowing;.
Others are  N398.5 Billion as Statutory transfers ,  N2.68 Trillion for debt serving , N272.9 Billion as sinking fund ,  N536.7 Billion for Pension and gratuities, .
They legislators also retained l as presented by the executive, the adoption of   N10.51 trillion as total expenditure ,  N4.93 trillion as total recurrent,  N2.83 trillion for personnel cost and N2.23 trillion for capital expenditure .
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola ( APC Lagos West) in his submission said the increase effected on the oil price benchmark  was  as a result of the recent upward trend of the crude oil market which as today stood at $38 per barrel with a very strong expectation that the price will rise to as $40 to $45 per barrel.
In his remarks after the adoption of the report , the President of the Senate , Ahmad Lawan ,  said urged the Senate Committee on Privatization to laise with the Bureau of Public Enterprise ( BPE) in ensuring that the projected N260billion from proceeds of privatized agencies , is realised and accordingly used to fund the budget .
He frowned at some of the special accounts being kept  by the executive , particularly the Natural Resources Development Accounts .
According to him , such accounts at this time of scarcity of funds to finance the budget are not all that necessary.
” Keeping monies in  Natural Resources Development Accounts is more of waste than serving critical purposes”, he said .
He thereafter adjourned sitting of the Senate to Tuesday next week for consideration and possible passage of the revised N10.509 trillion 2020 budget .