Brussels, 16/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting in Osaka in Japan, G8 finance ministers (Germany, Canada, US, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and Russia) have called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) to examine “the real and financial factors behind the recent surge in oil and commodity prices, their volatility, and the effects on the global economy”. This is an explicit invitation to examine more closely the impact of speculation on oil prices, which are now fluctuating between $130-140 a barrel. A final declaration from the G8 indicated that “elevated commodity prices, especially of oil and food, pose a serious challenge to stable growth worldwide”. The text adopted on Saturday 14 June explained that these prices “have serious implications for the most vulnerable, and may increase global inflationary pressure”. The text also called on “oil producing countries to increase production and to invest in order to enhance long-term production capacity” and refinery capacity. The IMF and IEA report is due out at the IMF general assembly in October.
During a visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday 15 June, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, indicated that the Saudis envisaged increasing their production by 200,000 barrels a day in July. The biggest oil producing country in the world already increased its production by 300,000 barrels a day in May. According to Saudi Arabia's official press agency, Ban Ki-moon declared: “The King thinks that current oil prices are abnormally high and he is prepared to bring prices down to appropriate levels”.
Although oil prices have risen at the same time as the US dollar has fallen in value, the G8 has proved discrete about the question of interest rates. Ministers have not mentioned any possible intervention on the markets in an attempt to bolster the dollar but the US secretary of state to the treasury, Henry Paulson, again repeated that he wanted a strong dollar. (A.B./transl.rh)