The price of oil has plunged by more than 5 percent as investors worry about a drop in demand after the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast.
Around 6:30 p.m. IDT (10:30 a.m. EDT) the price of Brent crude, the main international oil contract, was down 5.4 percent to $107.11 per barrel, while the main US oil contract, WTI, fell 5.5 percent to $102.30. They have since rebounded slightly to $107.24 and $102.70 respectively.
The drops came after the International Monetary Fund downgraded the outlook for the world economy this year and next, blaming Russia’s war in Ukraine for disrupting global commerce, pushing up oil prices, threatening food supplies and increasing uncertainty already heightened by the coronavirus and its variants.
The 190-country lender cut its forecast for global growth to 3.6% this year, a steep falloff from 6.1% last year and from the 4.4% growth it had expected for 2022 back in January. It also said it expects the world economy to grow 3.6% again next year, slightly slower than the 3.8% it forecast in January.
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