African countries struggling with high oil prices

Many African countries are facing economic hardship due to soaring oil prices and the establishment of an oil fund to mitigate the negative effects is under way, said a senior African Union (AU) official Banjul Monday.

World oil prices, one of the determining factors of global economic performance, continue posing a threat to the world economy, and its impact on Africa is "a matter that the African Union is currently seized with," said Patrick Mazimhaka, deputy chairperson of the AU Commission, in an opening speech at the Fourth Meeting of the AU/Regional Economic Communities (RECS) Committee on Coordination.

The AU decided to set up an oil fund to mitigate the effects of surging oil prices at its sixth summit held this January in Khartoum, Sudan.

"Terms of reference for a study on the establishment of the fund have been developed," Mazimhaka said ahead of the seventh AU summit scheduled for July 1 to 2.

Source: Xinhua