ABUJA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Thursday pegged oil production at 2.18 Million Barrels Per Day (MBPD) in the 2020 budget, saying it is more realistic.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who made the assertion in Abuja, the country's capital, said the projection was lower than that of 2.3 MBPD in 2019.
She said actual daily crude oil production and exports had been below budget projections since 2013 in spite of installed capacity of up to 2.5 MBPD for a number of reasons.
The minister added that in 2018, the actual production was 1.84 MBPD and for the first half of 2019 it was 1.86 MBPD.
According to her, the budget also pegged the oil price at 57 U.S. dollars per barrel and inflation rate at 10.81 percent.
The minister said the Gross Domestic Product was expected to grow by some 2.93 percent, higher than the 2.4 percent growth projected by the African Development Bank.
