impact of the coronavirus on its key tourism industry should gain some relief from lower oil prices although it is an oil producer the arab worlds most populous nation is usually a net importer of crude meaning that lower prices should benefit government financessaving on its energy import bills could give breathing space for the government its trying to press on with an economic reform program thats previously involved sweeping cuts to public spending and subsidies sensitive issues in a country where about a third of people are living below the poverty line of about 15 per daysubsaharan africa losersthey include much of the rest of the african continent halving oil prices for a year would reduce the value of net exports from subsaharan africa by 30 billion according to dirk willem te velde of the londonbased overseas development institute they could also reduce foreign direct investment and make it more difficult to service public debtangola an opec member depends on oil to make up more than 90 of its exports it had hoped this year it would finally emerge from an economic crisis caused by crudes last crash in 20142017 but the chances of president joao lourenco succeeding just got a lot slimmerthe 2014 price shock also led to an economic contraction in nigeria africas biggest crude producer the main risk is the nigerian government running out of money and then printing more naira in order to cover that fact said cheta nwanze lead partner with lagosbased risk consultancy sbm intelligence this could lead to even worse inflation than the country is currently experiencingsubsaharan africa winnersouth africa the most industrialised nation on the african continent has virtually no oil production it imports fuel and refines crude domestically to meet the bulk of demand the cost of gasoline and diesel is often a key driver of consumer prices so oils decline provides a rare measure of relief for an economy that slumped into a recession in the fourth quarter