Oil prices more than tripled between January 2004 and March 2008. The effects can be hard on countries with large net oil imports relative to income. This note sets out a measure of vulnerability to oil price shocks and breaks it down into its components. That allows cross-country benchmarking...

Many developing countries subsidize petroleum products. The doubling of world oil prices since January 2004 has had very high fiscal costs for these countries, increasing public debt and squeezing other government spending. The subsidies have also had unintended results. But phasing out...

Resource flows from extractive industries can be a lifeline for postconflict countries, helping to fund critical reconstruction needs. But these resources present issues not found elsewhere in the economy and need to be well managed. Sector governance principles that apply to oil-producing...