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Who’s Buying Africa’s Oil and why does it Matter?
Introduction.
The COVID-19 pandemic a near-halt of the global economy as governments-imposed lockdown measures in other to reduce the spread of the virus. As vaccines are developed and citizens inoculated, governments have begun relaxing lockdown measures. At the height of the pandemic, lockdown and social distancing measures caused citizens across the world to stay at home, while global manufacturing and tourism were badly hit by the effects of the virus. Lower rates of domestic and foreign travel and weaker industrial activity caused demand for oil prices to fall.
As oil prices hit new lows, with WTI falling to $39.16/bl and Brent Crude slumping to 41.96%, fears of a protracted economic slump, with economic growth falling across the Euro Area by 5% on average in 2020. Meanwhile, China one of Africa’s most important trading partners equally saw its economy grew modestly at 2.3% following 6% growth in 2019, and it remains one of the largest importers of crude oil.
Where is China importing its crude oil from?
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that blighted imports from most African countries, Angola was the fifth top crude supplier to China in April 2020. Demand and supply for crude oil are subject to changes in external factors such as lockdowns, demand for crude oil and petroleum…
