On the face of it, things are not so easy for OPEC at the moment. True, as developing countries, the individual Members share some deep-seated economic and socio-political difficulties, but these are side-effects, not the cause. The deeper malaise within OPEC stems from the fact that revenues are seemingly stuck in a Sargasso Sea of troubles, with actual prices below expectations while the only possible compensation — a growing market share in line with the 75 per cent of world oil reserves that OPEC possesses — is not even on the horizon. Moreover, the pricing problem is itself accentuated, on the one hand, by the effect of the depressed dollar on purchasing power and, on the other, by the nibbling effect of inflation on the price level of essential imports.
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