Nigeria’s budget at risk - IEA warns

    The International Energy Agency, IEA, said that demand for the oversupplied commodity is unlikely to witness significant growth in 2016. This is as Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia — all members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, ramp up production.

In a statement made by International Energy Agency;

 “Having peaked at a five-year high of 1.6 million barrels per day in 2015, global oil demand growth is forecast to ease back considerably in 2016, to 1.2 million barrels per day, pulled down by notable slowdowns in Europe, China and the United States,” Paris-based IEA said in its monthly market report. It added that the recent uptick in the price of Brent crude to $33.31 a barrel from January’s 12-year low of $27.15 a barrel could be a “false dawn.” “With the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term,” the IEA report said. “In these conditions the short term risk to the downside has increased.” This prediction puts Nigeria’s budget on the edge as it is predicated on $38 per barrel, with oil accounting for more than 80 percent of the country’s revenue.