And, indeed, these costs have declined, but by less than might otherwise have been the case; much of the innovation in oil development outside OPEC, for example, has been directed at overcoming an increasingly inhospitable and costly exploratory environment, the consequence of more than a century of draining the more immediately accessible sources of crude oil.
Due to the slump in global activity, heightened risk aversion by international investors and a de-leveraging by financial institutions, most CEE countries have seen a significant weakening of export demand and a substantial worsening of their external financing conditions.