And just when the global economy was returning to normal as coronavirus pandemic weakens, the Ukraine-Russia war has pushed crude oil prices to highest levels since 2008, which will mostly likely batter economic growth and global demand. While the commodity super-cycle has kept pushing oil prices up, the markets around the world are down as crude oil prices stand at second highest on record. The recent surge in global crude oil prices is primarily due to high likelihood of a ban on Russian oil imports by the US and the west amid rising inflation. Soaring crude oil prices mean extended commodity super-cycle and rising prices of many products as a significant part of global consumption comes from fuel.
Oil prices have spurred by more than 60 percent since the start of 2022, and by over 30 percent since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine standoff. And with a rapid return of Iranian crude to the global market looking less likely, the immediate outlook will remain upward. Such conditions have seriously dented the prospects of global economic recovery – much awaited in the post pandemic era.