The role of international banking in the ‘oil surplus’ adjustment process

In the rapidly changing and dramatically volatile oil market in which the balances of payments of the various countries are characterized by an unpreeendented variability, the role of international banks in the intermediations between countries, has been crucial. The stabilization function of the banking system which is instrumental in allowing a more rational oil production policy and investment policy has been since 1980 under considerable stress due to a decline of deposits. In this paper we shall first analyze the general framework of the problem and then the specific decision process of the banking system by emphasizing the differences between micro- and macroeconomic aspects.