The International Monetary Fund's main policy committee has said it has reached broad agreement on collective action from oil producers and consumers to stabilize prices, reported the BBC.online.
The news came as protesters demonstrated in the streets of Prague, where the meeting is taking place, against globalization and in favor of more help for poor countries, said the BBC.
Hints that a new oil deal could be imminent were reinforced by comments by the IMF's managing director Horst Kِhler, who said "I am quite optimistic that we will see some improvement in the oil price [situation] in the not too distant future."
The committee's chairman Gordon Brown, who is also the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, said he had also met with the head of Saudi Arabia's central bank, a committee member, earlier on Sunday to discuss the situation.
Earlier, the World Bank's chief economist, Nick Stern told the BBC that "a prolonged increase in the oil price could cut up to 0.75 percent off world growth" - which amounts to a loss of more than $200bn worldwide in potential output, according to the BBC - Albawaba.com
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