Price shock hits African producers already struggling with low demand

The fallout from Saudi Arabia’s 6 March decision to pull the plug on negotiations with Russia to extend and deepen Opec and non-Opec crude production cuts risks dragging Africa’s leading oil exporters into prolonged recession if oil prices do not recover quickly from their new levels of around $35/barrel.All Opec production quotas, Russian commitments to curb its output and other restraint pledges by non-Opec states, which have been in place since 2016, expire at the end of March.