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Nigeria oil savings drop to $6.2 bln - minister

ABUJA, (Reuters)

Nigeria's windfall oil savings account has fallen to around $6.2 billion as the government spent to counter the impact of a global downturn, junior finance minister Remi Babalola said on Monday.

Finance Minister Mansur Muhtar said in October the oil savings, which are supposed to cushion sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy from the impact of any decline in world oil prices, stood at around $7 billion.

"The administration met over $20 billion in the excess crude proceeds account, which has now declined to about $6.2 billion due to its utilisation by all three tiers of government as a result of the impact of the economic recession," Babalola's office said in a statement.

The OPEC member saves any oil revenue above a benchmark price into the excess crude account, a pillar of IMF-backed reforms launched in 2003.