OECD warns of ‘economic shock’ from oil prices

By John Thornhill in Paris
Published: September 6 2005 12:10 | Last updated: September 6 2005 13:23

The current surge in oil prices is a major economic shock that is in some ways comparable with that of the 1970s, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Tuesday.

“The level of the price today is not very distant from the levels reached during the great shock at the end of the 1970s,” said Jean-Philippe Cotis, chief economist at the OECD at a press briefing in Paris. “The situation remains very strained on the oil markets.”