Asia Buys the Dip in Oil

Asia’s economies are more vulnerable to external trade shocks than other regions, but they would find low oil prices a boon to their government finances at times of heightened global economic uncertainty. The world’s top crude oil-importing region and the most important export market of the major oil-producing countries – from the Middle East to Russia – could see a silver lining in the recent oil price slide to the low $60s. The crude import bills are dropping, and they are already pushing oil import levels in major Asian…