Africa and the oil price
From the FT:
Surveying 13 non-oil-producing African countries, including South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Senegal, the [International Energy Agency] found that the increase in the cost of oil bought by the countries since 2004 was equivalent to 3 per cent of combined GDP.
This was more than the sum of debt relief and aid received over the past three years by the countries, which have a combined population of 270m, of whom 104m live on less than $1 a day.
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It's very relevant what you post here, Chris. African countries were also hit hard extremely hard by the first oil price hikes in the 1970s. Without that, would we ever have seen structural adjustment in Africa? One might wonder.
What is certain is that oil has played a much larger role in the energy supply in most African countries than anywhere else. It's a much neglected aspect of African countries' otherwise massively over-analyzed commodity-dependence problems.
Best wishes
Lars, Copenhagen
Posted by: Lars Uldall-Jessen | Jan 11, 2008 12:39:18 AM
I'd be interested in the methodology and whether this study accounts for the fact that high prices for other commodities (such as gold for Ghana) have reduced the oil BoP hit.
Anybody know where I can find a copy of the paper?
Posted by: Richard | Jan 14, 2008 1:46:40 PM