OBELA Analysis

The energy outlook is complicated by the drop in demand during confinement, especially for fossil fuels; however, the importance of oil remains crucial. China is the central player for both the global oil industry and the major player in terms of clean energy sources.

Economies such as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are heavily dependent on oil and gas exports; while Mexico and Brazil depend for their tax revenues on the oil companies Pemex and Petrobras.

The panorama shows a dispute between dirty and clean energies in a conjuncture of both energy change and crisis in energy demand. The crisis due to the pandemic may mean a boost to the transition towards cleaner energies under the leadership of China.

Record gold prices from 2019 onwards express the vulnerability of the international monetary system resulting from the US-China trade war and recently the impact of the COVID-19 on the global economy.

If the price of gold is linked to movements in the international financial markets and the expansive monetary policy of the US central bank: Does the current price of gold express speculation? Are there expectations of crises arising from the pandemic shock?

The current price of gold expresses the value of refuge in the face of a situation of uncertainty, channeled by investors through two large funds. The expectations of crisis were already in 2019 when the price began to rise as a reflection of the trade war and the fall in American GDP growth.

The first half of 2020 is possibly the worst since economic statistics have been published. We do not have the statistics of the first semester of 1872, but it is worse than the first semester of 1930; and it is much worse than the first semester of 2009 or the last semester of 2008.
The Latin American countries with the greatest fall in production were Peru and Mexico, while Brazil fell less. ECLAC reported that industrial production in April fell 14.1% in Chile, 15.1% in Brazil, 20.1% in Colombia, 26.4% in Argentina, 29.3% in Mexico and 40.5% in Peru.
The Asian countries seem to be recovering from a V-shaped crisis while those in Europe, North and South America are going through a U-shaped crisis or perhaps even one with a slower recovery and not reaching the original pre-Covid-19 level. This will have future implications for global economic leadership.