Nigeria plans to spend 4.9 trillion naira ($30.96 billion) in 2014, little changed from this year, amid government expectations of reduced oil production. Budget proposals submitted by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lawmakers today in Abuja on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan are based on an oil output of 2.39 million barrels a day and a price of $77.5 a barrel. The economy will expand 6.75 percent next year, faster than this year’s 6.5 percent estimate, with the budget deficit increasing to 1.9 percent of GDP from 1.2 percent this year. Africa’s biggest oil producer will use an exchange rate of 160 naira a dollar to calculate its expenditure, according to the minister. Oil output estimates for next year are 6 percent lower than the figure of 2.53 million barrels a day used for this year’s spending plan. In his medium-term expenditure proposals sent to lawmakers in September, Jonathan […]