The federal government has unveiled key benchmarks for the budget of 2017.

This was done by Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma during a medium term fiscal framework public consultative forum with civil society organisations and the private sector.

The minister said the benchmark for crude oil price is put at $42.5 per barrel, while government projects that oil output will rise to 2.2 million barrels per day in 2017; then 2.3 million and 2.4 million in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Udo-Udoma said the price of crude oil is expected to move up to $45 and $50 in 2018 and 2019.

He believes the naira would be at 290 against the dollar in 2017, contrary to the projection of the CBN which said it was optimistic that the Naira would settle at 250 to the dollar.

The minister added that Company Income Tax is expected to rise to N1.86 trillion in 2017 from the projected N1.788 trillion in 2016.

Also, Value Added Tax, VAT, is expected to grow to 42.4 percent in 2017 as states intensify efforts to boost internally generated revenue.

Udoma urged the organized private sector to join hands with the government in its efforts to make non-oil revenue the game changer for the present administration.

The budget minister said the federal government had spent N598.63 billion, in the last two months, on servicing existing debts, while N331.58 billion was spent on capital expenditure within the same period, bringing the total amount spent to N2.1 trillion.

Recall that this year’s budget pegged crude oil benchmark at $38 per barrel, while naira was put at 197 to the dollar but it at the parallel market is currently trading at more than 350 to a dollar and Brent crude sells for $44.80 per barrel.