Publication

Most analyses of the impact of oil price swings on oil-exporting economies focus on their fiscal breakeven price - the oil price that allows a country’s budget to balance. However, the authors of this text contend that this measure suffers from important limitations that prevent accurate comparisons across time or among countries. They argue that a better measure of the resilience of an oil- or gas-exporting economy is the external breakeven price - the oil price that would enable an oil- or gas-exporting economy to cover its import bill.