Ghost of Past Oil Crises Haunts the World Economy

Oil crisis? What oil crisis? Prices are sky high, China is fast becoming as big a consumer as the United States, conflict in the Middle East threatens deliveries and some experts say there’s not much oil left in the ground.

Yet, the International Monetary Fund says the world economy is a more efficient machine these days than during the crises of the 1970s and that a further surge to $80 per barrel would probably only trim growth by a quarter of a percentage point.

Plenty of people seem not to share the confidence of the IMF economists who argued in a report last week the latest rise in the price of oil bore little resemblance to those that caused repeat recessions and mass unemployment 30 years ago.
Middle East North Africa Financial Network