The 2019 budget, which was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in May, will now be faced with an implementation challenge following the drop in oil price below $60 per barrel .
Brent, against which Nigerian crude oil is priced, shed $2.10 to settle at $59.79 per barrel as of 7.45pm Nigerian time on Monday.
The President had, in the budget, based expected income on oil production of 2.3 million bpd (including condensates) with an oil benchmark price of $60 per barrel.
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Recall that In October 2018, Brent crude hit a record high of $86.74 per barrel, a development that spurred the Federal Executive Council to peg the price of crude oil for the budget at $60 per barrel, up from $50.5 for the 2018 budget.
However, Brent went on a downward spiral in November, trading below the $60 per barrel mark, with some experts saying that the government would need to review the oil price benchmark downwards.
But again in April, the price, however, hit $75 per barrel in April for the first time in 2019, only to fall back to its lowest level on Thursday following the escalation of trade war between the United States and China.
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