This is a recent Federal Executive Council decision as announced by the minister for budget and economic planning, Atiku Bagudu, in Abuja.
Overall, the country plans to spend N26.01 trillion (about $34 billion) in the 2024 budget and will, according to the minister, assume an oil price of $73.96 for its expenditures at an exchange rate of 700 naira per dollar.
While oil prices currently stand at about $93 per barrel, Nigeria aims to significantly increase its oil production to up to 1.7 million barrels per day by November this year.
The country’s production rose by 14 percent in September to reach 1.346mbd, compared to 1.181mbd in August, according to latest data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC.
Added to condensates, however, Nigeria’s total daily average production in September was 1.57mbd, which still is below the 2024 oil production target of 1.78mbd.
The implication is that, if the contribution of condensates to national oil production is part of government’s calculation in assuming the 1.78 million barrels per day production target for 2024, the country would still have to add 210,000 barrels in daily production to reach the targeted figure.
Going by the 2024 projected spending plan, the minister said, the economy is expected to grow at a rate of 3.76% next year, with inflation currently at a 20-year high of 27.72%, moderating to 21% next year.
Inflation in Nigeria has risen to double-digits since 2016, eroding incomes and savings, prompting the central bank to raise interest rates, to its highest level in almost two decades.
President Bola Tinubu has been under pressure to ease economic hardship in Nigeria, which worsened after he scrapped a decades-old petrol subsidy that caused pump prices to triple and allowed the naira to depreciate by more than 50%, sending prices surging in Africa’s top oil producer and most populous nation.
