“Oil Exporters Lose over $340billion from Oil Price Plunge” – IMF

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, has said that Oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and Africa lost more than $340 billion in oil revenue from their budget in 2015, amounting to 20 per cent of their combined gross domestic product.

IMF Managing Director,Christine Lagarde, on Monday, February 22, said that supply and demand factors in the oil market suggest that oil prices are “likely to stay low for an extended period.”

This will mean that all oil exporters will have to reduce spending and work on raising revenues. At the same time, these economies need to strengthen their fiscal frameworks and reengineer their tax systems – by reducing their heavy reliance on oil revenues and boosting non-hydrocarbon sources of revenues,” Lagarde said.

The slump in prices led Nigeria to loss of over $62.8 million revenue between November and December last year. President Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria Sunday for the Gulf in what Presidency officials said is an ongoing efforts by Nigeria and other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to achieve greater stability in the price of crude oil exports.

Speaking at the Arab Fiscal Forum in Abu Dhabi, Lagarde added that such adjustments will help bolster growth and job creation and help maintain debt sustainability.

The US oil and gas industry has lost about 100,000 jobs over the past 16 months, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. Employment losses worldwide are probably at least double that figure. And these are only people employed directly by oil and gas producers, drilling contractors and other oilfield services firms.