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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ColtonGang who wrote (860)	9/24/2000 5:40:25 PM
From: ColtonGang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

See what a little US clout can do...........A pledge to lower oil prices Ministers agree at IMF meetings to cooperate to keep prices contained By Staff Writer M. Corey Goldman, with Heather Bourbeau September 24, 2000: 1:56 p.m. ET PRAGUE, Czech Republic (CNNfn) - The world's oil producing nations have pledged to cooperate to keep the price of oil within a "reasonable" level to ensure the global economy does not fall into a slump, leading ministers and finance officials said Sunday. The International Monetary and Financial Committee, the International Monetary Fund's policy arm, said that at least some oil-producing countries had signed an agreement "on the desirability of stability in oil markets around reasonable long-term prices," the group's official communiqué said. All countries were in agreement that the price of oil is currently too high and needs to come down. The pledge marks a concerted effort among the world's rich and developing countries to ensure that skyrocketing oil prices don't crimp global growth and undermine countries' economies - particularly those that are dependent on importing the commodity to refine as heating oil and fuel for consumers. "Where I think there is common ground now, and I think that goes for producer and consumer countries, is that everyone agrees we must have more stable long-term oil prices," said Gordon Brown, the U.K.'s finance minister and chair of the committee. "We have a signed document, for the first time, on the need for a stable oil price," he said. Oil producers aware of impact Also noted within the committee's statement was a willingness among other countries to contribute their own supply of oil to world markets to boost availability and lower global prices. Brown declined to elaborate on which members would be willing to contribute additional reserves, as the United States did last week. "There is an awareness among oil producing countries that this extreme oil price is not in their best interest," echoed IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler. "I think oil producers are well aware of their impact on the global economy, specifically on the world's poor," he said. While the group opted not to define what a "reasonable" price for oil is, Brown noted that the committee relied on OPEC's official target price corridor of between $22 and $28 dollars per barrel in its assessment. "We agreed that further steps must be taken," he said. Oil producing nations Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Russia and the United Arab Emirates are all members of the 24-member committee of the IMF, which agreed to the statement during the IMF-World Bank meetings in Prague. Oil prices closed day Friday at $32.68 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from last week's peak near $35 per barrel.