High oil prices could trigger recession: IEA

ROME: High oil prices could tip the world economy into recession, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Tuesday. "That's possible," IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka said on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum here. The previous day, the IEA chief had said that oil prices, at their current levels, were "too high for everyone, especially for developing countries who face other significant costs increases", namely food prices."

The IEA represents the interests of the oil-consuming countries. World oil prices eased only slightly in Asian trade on Tuesday after once again spiking to a record high of 117.56 dollars the day before amid reports of pipeline sabotage in Nigeria and the refusal on the part of the Organisation of Petroluem Exporting Countries to raise output for the time being.