(Adds Senate plan for budget, assumption on oil output)
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, June 10 (Reuters) - Nigeria's House of
Representatives on Wednesday passed a revised 10.8 trillion
naira ($30 billion) budget based on oil prices at $28 per
barrel.
The budget is 300 billion naira above the one submitted by
President Muhammadu Buhari late last month, and increases the
expected oil price by $3 per barrel. The Senate will consider the amended budget on Thursday.
The government had planned to cut its record 2020 budget due
to the coronavirus pandemic and an oil price plunge, but the
version passed by the House is above the 10.59 trillion naira
level approved by Buhari in December. The budget also assumes oil production at 1.9 million
barrels per day (bpd). Oil prices have recovered from a 20-year
low of just under $16 per barrel hit in March, and were trading
at $41.65 on Wednesday evening.
But Nigeria has also agreed to limit its oil output to 1.412
million bpd as part of a deal with the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers. That
agreement was extended through the end of July. In a statement, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the upper
chamber would consider the revised 2020 budget on Thursday,
after receiving details of some of the 500 billion naira
COVID-19 intervention fund that is part of the budget.
"Tomorrow, we can receive and consider the report to ensure
that we don't delay anything as important as that," Lawan said
in a statement.
Nigeria expects its oil-dependent economy, which recently
recovered from a 2016 recession, to shrink by 3.4% this
year. ($1 = 360.0000 naira)