Special topics
Oil prices fell on Tuesday [October 10, 2018] following the IMF’s downward review of the global economic growth forecasts.
Reuters however reports that markets were supported as Hurricane Michael closed nearly 40 percent of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil output and U.S. sanctions restricted Iranian exports.
The Fund reduced the global economic growth from 3.9 to 3.7 percent.
The IMF also raised concerns that demand for oil products may slump as well.
But on Tuesday, the price of Brent crude went down by 44 cents or about half a percent; to reach 84.56 dollars a barrel.
This was after a 1.3 percent gain earlier in the day.
Again, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down by 41 cents, also about half a percent, to 74.55 dollars a barrel, after rising nearly 1 percent in the previous session.
The decline in prices may impact Ghana in two ways; that the country will receive less for the exports of crude during the period which will affect projected oil revenue.
On the other hand, the country could save some dollars as it will have to spend less in purchasing crude that it imports.
But the effect on imports will be higher as the country imports more than it exports