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.... ....   Home  |  Cover Stories  |  National Newsreel  |  Politics  |  Business  |  Sports  |  World  | Contact  | Advert Rates  Towards a better life for the people Search The Archives   Cover Stories National News South West Niger Delta South East North Politics Business Sports World Viewpoints Features   COVER STORIES Budget: MPs to raise oil benchmark By Emmanuel Aziken Monday, December 13, 2004 ABUJA —THE $27/barrel benchmark set for crude oil revenue in the 2005 budget proposals is to be raised, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation has said. Speaking against the background of fresh expenditure proposals from the executive branch of government and upward swing in the global market price of crude oil, Senator Mbata said it had become necessary to effect an increase in the benchmark in order to realise the objectives of the budget. Besides, he wondered at the possibility of realising projections from the sale of government properties and the looted funds, saying similar projections earmarked for the 2004 budget did not materialise. President Olusegun Obasanjo had last October submitted a N1.618 trillion budget to the joint session of the National Assembly with an inbuilt deficit of N314 billion. Oil revenue in the budget had been pegged at $27/barrel. Hinting at a hike of the oil price benchmark, Senator Mbata said: "The revenue now is predicated on $27 per barrel and also we have revenue from the Customs and Excise duties and the Federal Inland Revenue. It is hard to adjust taxes for now but the one to adjust is oil revenue. If expenditure increases significantly, we may have to increase the benchmark in order for deficit to be at a manageable level because we are quite worried about the deficit level." While refusing to put a figure on the new benchmark, he said the lawmakers would act with the volatility of the oil market in view. "It is likely that the increase is going to be significantly high, we note the volatility in the world oil price mechanism and it is something we need to watch when determining the benchmark so that revenue figures can be reliable to fund the budget," the Committee chairman said, adding that the increase of the benchmark was also based on feelers from the presidency that the budget proposals earlier submitted to the National Assembly was being reviewed.   Home  |  Cover Stories  |  National Newsreel  |  Politics  |  Business  |  Sports  |  World  | Contact  | Advert Rates © 1998- 2004. Vanguard Media Ltd.

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