Recent China-based economic estimates assess that China has derived windfall benefits from lower prices for oil and other commodities. By some estimates, China gets annual headline savings of as much as US$ 250 billion from stepped-up purchases of discounted oil, copper and iron ore.
Kenneth Courtis, Chairman of Starfort Holdings, a private investment, equity and commodity group, estimates that China is saving over US$ 600 million on its daily 12-million-barrel import bill, or over US$ 200 billion a year, following the halving in oil prices since last summer.
(Comment: Those savings are equivalent to the investment initiatives announced by China to strengthen ties with neighbors by building trade and transport links: US$ 50 billion for China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; US$ 40 billion for the Silk Road infrastructure fund; US$ 10 billion for the New Development Bank, which Beijing is co-founding with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa; and US$ 41 billion for a related contingency fund.)
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