Nigeria assumes $78 a barrel oil price benchmark for 2015 budget

Nigeria is assuming an oil price price of $78 per barrel for its 2015 budget, up from $77.5 per barrel in 2014, according to its 2015-2017 budget framework document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The document, which forms the basis for preparing the budget, assumed oil production of 2.27 million barrels per day in 2015, down from 2.38 million barrels in 2014. It projected oil output to reach 2.32 million barrels per day in 2016, rising to 2.40 million barrels by 2017.

A higher assumed oil price means a slightly looser budget for 2015 than for 2014, although that was to be expected given this is an election year, when demands for funds from politicians tends to surge. President Goodluck Jonathan faces what is likely to be a closely fought presidential poll in February 2015.

The document, dated to the month of September, assumed gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.35 percent for 2015, down from 6.56 percent estimated for 2014 -- figures which differed slightly from some given by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a news conference on Tuesday.

There, she projected 6.75 percent growth in 2015, with this year expected to finish at 6.2 growth.

The budget framework paper said the budget deficit rose to 2.41 percent of GDP in 2014 on higher debt servicing, up from an expected 1.85 percent.

Nigeria's external and local debt stood at $65.26 billion as at end March 2014, up from $48.50 billion end March 2013, the budget framework document said.