A “pass-through effect” of low crude prices is improbable given the constrained fiscal space.
Lekha S Chakraborty writes:
Against the backdrop of the covid-19 pandemic and the economic slowdown, Saudi Arabia-led oil cartel OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) wanted to curtail oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day. However, as Russia has not agreed to this proposal, Saudi Arabia has declared a price war by reducing the Brent crude oil price from $65 per barrel in end-December 2019 to $33 now. The race to the bottom to this extent by Brent is the first time ever since the 1991 Gulf crisis.
