Record high oil prices, while having little effect on the world's industrialized nations and benefiting oil-producing emerging economies, are taking a toll on poor countries that rely on imports, analysts said.
World oil prices this week hit a record high when New York crude prices reached US$78.77 per barrel on news of sliding US crude reserves.
"You cannot say that this has had any effect on the world economy," said Philippe Chalmin, an economics professor at Paris Dauphine university.
"Rich countries have been remarkably good at adapting to significantly higher oil prices" over the past four years, said Francis Perrin, director of the Le petrole et le gaz arabes publication.
That situation is likely to continue. Demand for oil has soared in recent years because of the needs of emerging economies, in particular China, and because of the growing world economy.
It is rising today much faster than production capacity, which is likely to keep up the pressure on prices and prevent a return to price levels of five years ago, when a barrel was worth around US$25.
But despite soaring prices today, the IMF has just raised its forecast for world growth to 5.2 percent for this year and next year and says that while it recognizes that high oil prices present a risk, it is not alarmed.
Industrialized countries are today much less dependant on oil than they were 30 years ago, said Manouchehr Takin from the Center for Global Energy Studies.
They diversified their energy sources after the oil crises of the 1970s and 1980s, with some turning to nuclear power, and they also improved energy efficiency.
Takin however said that if oil prices climb beyond US$80, the trend could have a psychological effect and curb growth and accelerate inflation.
Oil-producing economies such as Algeria, Venezuela or Libya have profited handsomely from high prices, but many analysts say that the price rises are a calamity for developing countries that rely on imports for their energy needs.
Their oil bills have ballooned, which has worsened their deficits and hampered the fight against poverty.
Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency watchdog, warned recently of a "catastrophe" for the world's poorest countries that had forced the state to provide subsidies for oil.
He said the cost of these subsidies was five times higher than the savings made when rich lender nations wrote off poor countries' debts.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its latest report on African economic perspectives that because of high oil prices, inflation had climbed beyond 10 percent in many of the continent's countries that relied on oil imports.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
RSS