OPEC weekly basket price reduced from $61.14 to $60.73 per barrel (December 1 8, 2017). Similarly, Global oil benchmark crude sold for as low as $61.22 per barrel during the week, down week-on-week by 1.8 percent. Nigerias Bonny light declined slightly by approximately 1 percent to $63.534. The fall in crude prices came after a sharp rise in U.S. inventories of refined fuel, which suggested that actual demand may be weakening5 (the EIA data shows an increase of 8.5 million barrels of stored fuel). Given that crude oil revenue remains critical to Nigerias budget performance, investments aimed at improving growth and competitiveness of other key sectors is essential to minimize distortions on budgetary expenditure.

The Nigeria stock market indices; All Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalization declined by 2.4 percent to close at 26537.36 points and N9.12 trillion respectively at the end of the trade session this week8 The decline in the indices, which is attributed to the low subscription for stocks in the market, led to the partnership between Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Debt Management Office (DMO) to salvage the financial system.