In a way it captures the irony of our times. Isn't it a bit strange that Saudi Arabia, the perceived beneficiary of the relentless oil price hike, should host a summit expressing 'concern' on the rising oil prices? This high-profile summit was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last week after crude prices more than doubled over the past twelve months, stoking inflation and hurting economies across continents, ostensibly to diagnose the problem and possibly prescribe solutions. This meeting was a congregation of oil producing and consuming countries to discuss the biggest challenge to the world economy since the World War II. Much less provide solutions to the issue of global inflation, the summit exposed serious fault lines that exist between major players even on the fundamental issue of arriving at a consensus on what causes...
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