$50 per barrel of oil: what does it mean for the world economy?

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$50 per barrel of oil: what does it mean for the world economy?

November 27, 2018 - 09:14
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Just couple months ago the largest participants of oil market forecasted price return to $100 per barrel level. Now price is half of this estimate, and Bloomberg tries to determine what it means for the world economy.

Photo © Gerd Altmann, CC0 1.0

Just couple months ago the largest participants of oil market forecasted price return to $100 per barrel level. Now price is half of this estimate, and Bloomberg tries to determine what it means for the world economy.

Oil importers, such as India and South Africa, will benefit, while producers, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, obviously, will lose from price slump. Central banks, which are under pressure of raising interest rates decision will get relief, while those that hope for inflation growth, like Bank of Japan, will face another difficulty.

As a result, everything will depend on what will happen to demand, which is under pressure of strengthening dollar and trade conflicts, as well as reaction of major produces. One of them, Saudi Arabia, is now between Russia, OPEC’s partner on market price recovery, and US, where President Trump criticizes OPEC for high prices. Next few weeks will show how the producers will behave.

It shall be noted that price decline ahead of winter period amid slower economic growth will benefit households and companies. For countries importing oil $10-per-barrel price drop will add 0,5-0,7 percent to GDP. For Gulf economies GDP losses will be from 3 to 5 percent, while for UAE, Russia and Nigeria from 1,5% to 2%.