|Economy|
FG Cuts 2015 Budget Benchmark to $73 as Oil Prices Head South: With the price of oil in the international market continuing its downward spiral, the Federal Government on Sunday announced a number of measures to cushion the economy from exogenous shocks. Addressing the press yesterday, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the 2015-2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which was recently submitted to the National Assembly had been revised. The MTEF, which had proposed a benchmark of $78 per barrel of oil for the 2015 budget, is now revised downwards to $73 per barrel and will be re-submitted to the National Assembly for its approval. Source: Thisday

GDP Growth Drops to 6.23% – NBS: The National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday released the country’s Gross Domestic Product figure for the third quarter of 2014, stating that the economy, in real terms, grew by 6.23 per cent. The Bureau in the report said the 6.23 per cent third quarter growth rate, was lower than the 6.54 per cent recorded in second quarter of 2014. The report said the oil sector experienced production challenges, adding that the average daily production of crude oil in the third quarter was 2.15 million barrels per day, a decrease from 2.26 mbpd recorded in the third quarter of 2013 and 2.21 mbpd recorded in the second quarter of 2014. The report said the impact of the drop in crude oil production was a decline in oil GDP by 3.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2014. Source: Punch

Investment Into Free Trade Zones Hits N2.7trn — NEPZA: Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA has raked in a whopping N2.7trillion, an equivalent of $13.5billion investment into the country’s Free Trade Zones, FTZs. The breakdown of the total figure revealed that the country attracted N560billion, representing $3.5 billion from 2012 to 2014, while between 1992 and 2012, the country raked in a total of N1.7trn, ($10bn), a grand total of N2.16trn ($13.5bn) into the FTZs. Source: Vanguard

|Power|
US investors to deliver 1,200MW solar power – FG: A consortium of American investors in renewable energy, under the auspices of Motir Seaspire, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Ministry of Power to deliver in two years, 1,200 megawatts of solar powered electricity in Nigeria. The proposed solar technology to be installed in Nigeria will be of the United States standard, according to the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who added that the consortium had the capacity to increase the scope of the project to 10,000MW in the next five years. A statement from the Power ministry quoted the President/CEO of the firm, Mr. Emmanuel Irono, as saying that the team had a portfolio of over $5bn that could be accessed over a period of five years into its integrated renewable energy projects. He said the initial 1,200MW would be realised in the next two years. Source: Punch