Word: importance
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Many Asian countries, with the exception of Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Brunei, import nearly all their crude. Since they rely almost entirely on export markets to fuel their growth, they remain especially sensitive to the economic well-being of their trading partners. With oil prices rising and the U.S. economy slowing down, traders in the smaller stock markets are looking glum: in Taipei, shares have plummeted 65% from their year-end high, while the Bangkok market has slipped 40% in just two weeks...
...much of Africa will have trouble paying its energy bills. Sub-Saharan Africa is already finding it difficult to handle the interest on its $135 billion foreign debt. Even the more stable economies will be badly hurt by the energy price hike. Kenya, for example, will see its oil-import bill increase from $300 million to $400 million a year if the price settles at $25 per bbl. Says Ross Wilson, a consultant at Deloitte, Haskins & Sells in Nairobi: "The question for Kenya is, How many loads can the camel take...
While no place is safe from the effects of the water crisis, Egypt, in particular, faces hard times. The country's population of 55 million is growing by 1 million every nine months. Already the people must import 65% of their food, and the situation could grow far worse. The flow of the Nile, Egypt's only major water supply, will be reduced in coming years as upstream neighbors Ethiopia and Sudan divert more of the river's waters. Egypt's only practical course is to brake population growth and reduce the enormous amount of water wasted through inefficient irrigation...
...cents per gal. to more than $2, and food prices rose 300%. In Lima at least three people were killed by police and army troops, who were enforcing a state of emergency invoked two days before the measures were made public. The plan calls for taxes to be raised, import duties to be enforced and controls on currency exchange to be lifted...
...greater cause for concern. The country relies more on foreign fuel today than it ever has, importing 49.9% of its total consumption. If prices rise $3 per bbl., as OPEC wants, the total U.S. import bill will be fattened by about $9 billion, to $63 billion a year. And, unlike the Japanese, Americans tended to relax their efforts to conserve fuel once it became cheap again. At this point, economists do not expect a $3 oil hike to stunt economic growth seriously in the U.S., but even a slight shock is painful with the economy as weak...