PARIS: Oil producing countries are scrambling to fill gaping holes in their budgets torn by crashing petroleum prices, with some turning to international lenders for help and others slashing spending.
Austerity measures, loan negotiations and state asset sales are all on the menu of moves deployed to counter the brutal nosedive in the oil price, with West Texas Intermediate currently below $30 a barrel and Brent just above -- a drop of about 70 percent since June 2014.
"These are bad times for oil producers and their creditors," Gabriel Sterne, head of global macro research at Oxford Economics, said in a note.
National budgets need to adjust further, financial buffers are inadequate and proper adjustment to the new situation may be delayed by weak governance, he warned, calling the assessment "bleak".
In Russia, which depends on oil and gas sales for half of government revenues, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev on Tuesday warned that his country's budgetary situation was "critical" and that it was now urgent to implement a privatisation programme that is expected to feature sales of stakes in state-owned companies such as oil giant Rosneft.
"It is no longer possible to wait," he said, just as Russia -- a top global producer -- was pumping oil at record levels to offset falling prices with increased volumes.
The government in Moscow has already admitted that tumbling oil prices will push it to slash spending as it struggles to keep the deficit to under three percent of gross domestic product.
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