House To Meet With Finance Minister Over Falling Oil Price

                the House of Representatives will meet with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over the falling crude oil price at the international market.

At the House’s plenary on Wednesday, a special committee was constituted to represent the lawmakers at the meeting.

The challenges surrounding the sliding oil price are some of the primary reasons the 2015 budget of the Federal Government is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

To discuss the issue, the House went into a closed executive session, lasting three hours.

After the closed door meeting, the House decided to set up a meeting with the Minister of Finance and the budget office to iron out grey areas on the budget towards a speedy passage.

The date for the meeting was not disclosed.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, presented the 2015 budget estimates of about 4.3 trillion Naira before the National Assembly on December 17 2014.

She laid the document in separate appearances before the Senate and the House of Representatives.

There was not a joint sitting of the two chambers which has been the tradition, as President Goodluck Jonathan already delegated Okonjo-Iweala to present the estimates on his behalf.

The Coordinating Minister of the Economy was accompanied to the National Assembly with a retinue of other ministers and the‎ Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu.

Breakdown Of The Budget

No speeches were made during the ceremony, which was quite brief.

After the presentation of the budget, the Minister of Finance, gave a breakdown of the budget to key players in the finance sector.

According to the Minister, 633 billion Naira is for capital expenditure while 261 billion Naira is for recurrent.

Although this year’s budget comes at a time when oil prices has been on the decline, she said necessary measures had been taken to mitigate any negative effects on the masses.

She announced a $65 oil benchmark price for the 2015 budget, a figure that the House had expressed concerns over.

Their concerns were triggered by the fact that crude oil price per barrel had dropped far below the benchmark.

However, there have been improvements in price in the last few days, with the Brent crude recording a 2015 high of $63 per barrel on Tuesday.

There are no clear indications if the House and the Finance Minister will settle for a new benchmark.