Oil won't save any economies this time

摘要

THINGS WERE NOT GOING WELL for oil producers even before the coronavirus pandemic. Prices were soft and making government finances add up was a challenge. But now with oil prices falling to what were previously unimaginable levels, ever more drastic action is required on the part of producer countries to balance the books. In this month's cover story (page 24) John Everington looks at the outlook for the Gulf states, Venezuela, Ecuador, Angola and Nigeria (which has sold oil for less than its cost of production), with other writers contributing on Brazil, Kazakhstan and Norway. Meanwhile, as sovereigns and corpo-rates hunt for cash in these desperate times, Marie Kemplay reports on boom time in the bond markets with record issuance in the first quarter of 2020 (page 46). For investment banks the challenge has been to meet their clients' demands at the same time as their key bankers are getting used to working from home.