High oil prices are not likely to slip says IMF

THE IMF yesterday warned high oil prices were here to stay.

It dismissed the idea of prices returning to even $40 per barrel, let alone to the pre-Iraq price of $24pb, and said a spike in prices to over $100pb could not be ruled out.

The sky-rocketing prices will knock between 0.25% and 0.5% off global economic growth in 2005, said the IMF. Its report confirms last week’s warnings from Goldman Sachs that, in the present climate of scarcity, prices could go to $105pb as fears over future oil supplies spook the markets.