Asian leaders rooting for sustained Opec supply

New Delhi

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi has oil to thank for helping an economic revival in his country. Whether his luck holds depends on a meeting in Vienna on Thursday.

Awaiting the outcome of the summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on Nov 27 are other Asian leaders who depend largely on imported oil. While Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking at shoring up an economy on track to record its weakest annual growth since 1990, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is banking on Opec's 12 members sustaining production levels to stem his nation's slide into recession.

Oil's slump this year is good news for these nations, which are exposed to the risk of global price changes that affect their balance of trade. In India, which imports 80 per cent of i…