Antigua and Barbuda and its Eastern Caribbean neighbours are concerned that the unrest in Libya could have implications for the sub-region, and may also jeopardise planned investments by that country’s government in the sub-region.
The Antigua Observer reported that Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer is among leaders anxiously watching the unfolding developments in the African nation, where security forces and anti-government protestors have been clashing as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi struggles to hold on to power.
Spencer told the Daily Observer that the happenings there, and similar unrest in the Middle East, will affect people in Antigua and Barbuda and in other parts of the region.
“Whether we like it or not, we’re still very much dependent on oil from the Middle East and most of our economies are driven by that and, to the extent that there is instability and war and so on, it has an impact,” he said.
The violence in Libya has helped push up oil prices to their highest levels since the global financial crisis in 2008. Oil prices reached as high as US$149 a barrel in July of that year. At one point on Monday, Brent crude, one of the main benchmarks on international markets, reached US$108 per barrel.
