Fall in oil prices likely to widen divergence in monetary policies

Frankfurt

THE world's major central banks are scrambling to work through the implications of the near halving of the price of oil in the second half of 2014, and they are coming up with very different conclusions.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, policymakers looking at robust economic recoveries such as in the United States and Britain are focused on the likely boost to growth and consumption from markedly lower energy prices and the later upward impact that should have on inflation.