IMF's Lipsky Says Rising Oil Reflects Confidence About Growth

International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said rising oil prices reflect expectations that the recession may be easing and that demand is poised to recover.

The increase reflects “a general improvement in sentiment on signs that the sharpest period of decline in the global economy is over,” Lipsky said in the text of a speech at a meeting of energy ministers of the Group of Eight nations in Rome today. Prices also rose on “expectations that the contraction in oil demand may bottom out soon.”
Lipsky also said policy makers should find ways to reduce oil price volatility and its consequences on the global economy.

“Rapid oil price changes are detrimental to both global growth and to global economic and financial stability,” he said. Policy makers should “address the principal factors underlying large oil price swings.”

Bloomberg