Recent falls in commodity prices have left some emerging market (EM) economies in a tailspin. The S&P GSCI, an index of commodity prices, has fallen by more than 20% since its June peak, largely due to declines in oil and agricultural prices. All other things being equal, lower prices are bad news for net commodity exporting EMs which tend to be concentrated in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. In many there are already signs that lower export revenues are feeding through into weaker overall economic growth. With prices likely to remain low, sluggish growth looks set to become the norm in these economies over the coming years. But lower commodity prices are a positive for net importers of natural resources, including many EMs in Emerging Asia and Central Europe.
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