As oil price continues to maintain a steady but slow rise, the World Bank has raised its 2017 forecast for crude oil prices to $55 per barrel from $53 it said last month.
The hike in oil price forecast for next year is coming on the heels of strategies adopted by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to limit production after a long period of unrestrained output.
Energy prices, which include oil, natural gas and coal, are projected to jump almost 25 percent overall next year, a larger increase than anticipated in July.
The revised forecast is contained in the World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook. Oil prices are expected to average $43 per barrel in 2016, unchanged from the July report.
“We expect a solid rise in energy prices, led by oil, next year,” said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of the Commodity Markets Outlook. However, there is considerable uncertainty around the outlook as we await the details and the implementation of the OPEC agreement, which, if carried through, will undoubtedly impact oil markets.”
