Nigerian lawmakers on Thursday approved three billion dollars in new spending months ahead of elections, while also lowering the benchmark oil price the country’s budget is based on.
The 444-billion-naira spending increase (three billion dollars, two billion euros) will finance salary hikes for government workers and celebrations marking 50 years of independence, among other matters.
The total increase was 644 billion naira, but the House of Representatives also approved a 200-billion reduction in the 2010 budget. The change reduced the budget to 4.4 trillion naira.
It also reduced the benchmark oil price from 67 dollars to 60 dollars per barrel and lowered the nation’s oil production target of 2.35 million barrels per day to 2.2 million.
Revenue above the benchmark price goes into a savings fund which was sharply reduced as the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter battled the global financial crisis.
Nigeria’s Senate approved the measures on Wednesday, and the changes now go to President Goodluck Jonathan to sign off on, which he is expected to do.
Elections are expected in Nigeria early next year. Jonathan, who took over following president Umaru Yar’Adua’s death in May, has not announced his candidacy but is widely expected to run.
His People’s Democratic Party has been in power since 1999.