Covid-19 pandemic to decelerate global oil demand growth, IIF says

Covid-19 pandemic to decelerate global oil demand growth, IIF says

Global oil demand growth will decelerate due to a new wave of Covid-19 infections and renewed lockdowns, dampening hopes for a strong rebound in the near term, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

It is unlikely that global demand for oil will reach the 100 million barrels per day level seen in 2019 before 2023, the IIF said in its Oil Market: Expanding supply, fragile demand recovery report.

"The decline in the elasticity of global demand since the mid-1990s, with respect to GDP [gross domestic product], will accelerate," Garbis Iradian, IIF's chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa,