The Effects of Oil Import on Current Account Deficit: An Analysis on OECD Countries

With the increasing industrialization, the need for energy increases, and energy plays a more important role in countries’ economies. While increasing energy demands are seen as an indicator of growth, it brings up a current deficit problem for foreign-dependent countries in terms of energy. Oil is used to a great extend in almost all sectors, and energy demand is mainly related to the oil products. Thus, the relation between oil import and current account deficit becomes more interesting. The aim of this study is to analyze the reasons of the current account deficit for 11 OECD countries including Turkey (Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and UK) by using panel methodology with the help of FGLS (Feasible Generalized Least Square) with the 2000-2014 annual data. According to the empirical evidence of this study; there is a positive relation between GDP, the amount of imported oil and the level of financial development. However, oil import has the largest effect on the current account deficit. As a result, the dependency on oil products will deepen this issue and have negative effects on the economical balances. Therefore, countries should make changes to decrease oil dependency and seek alternative solutions.