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Oil prices fall to lowest level in Q2’23

Brent price plunged by 4.01% to $78.99pb, compared to last week’s close of $82.29pb. This was due to growing recessionary fears and renewed banking and financial jitters in the US. First Republic Bank, one of the four banks nearing collapse in March, shed over 90% of its stock price after it released its Q1’2023 financial report. Also, US economic growth slowed to 1.1% in Q1’23 from 2.6% in the previous quarter.

The fears of a recession and global financial crisis that have been sneaking around since the start of the year reared their ugly heads again, bringing oil prices to their lowest level in Q2’23. However, Brent gained slightly today by 0.79% due to the 5.1-million-barrel drop in US crude stockpiles.

Global sugar prices surge to a new 11-year high

Year-to-date, the global price of sugar has spiked by 29.74% to $26.00/pound from $20.04/pound on December 30, 2022. The price increase has been attributed to tight supply in top-producing countries like India and Brazil. This has trickled down into the domestic price of sugar (50kg), causing it to climb by 20% to ₦42,000 per bag in April from ₦35,000 per bag in March. In the near term, we expect elevated sugar prices in the global market due to adverse weather conditions in Brazil, to keep stoking domestic sugar prices.

These and other burning economic issues were discussed on the Business Morning programme on Channels TV by FDC’s senior analyst, Dr. Adesola Sunmoni.

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