Consumer Nations Ill-Equipped to Confront Rising Energy Costs
While the recent surge in crude prices has been very much on the minds of global finance chiefs meeting in Washington this weekend, oil consuming nations - be they rich or poor - are ill-equipped to defend themselves against rising energy costs.

International Monetary Fund policymakers and colleagues from the Group of Seven industrialized powers have repeatedly warned that stubbornly high oil prices threaten the health of the world economy.

Underlying that assertion is the pernicious degradation in purchasing power that the jump in oil prices over the last two years has meant for poor countries.

Costa Rica was this past week preparing to declare an economic state of emergency while demonstrations against the price of fuel have taken place in Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, where authorities fear a grave social crisis unless prices ease from their current levels of around 50 dollars a barrel.

In Costa Rica gasoline prices has reached record levels.

Fueled by the constant increase in prices, the consumption of gasoline is fast decreasing. Gas stations report a 15%  to 20% drop in their sales compared to the same period last year.

Also, in the last 12 months, the import of fuels by the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (RECOPE) - Costa Rican Oil Refinery - decreased by 2.6%.

Drivers are also changing their habits, more and more are filling up with regular gas instead of super. While the sales of regular gasoline accounted for 57% last year, it is now 61%. The sale of super gasoline dropped to 39% of all gasoline sales.

The higher cost of gasoline will have a dramatic effect on the Costa Rican economy if the government doesn't move quickly to curb consumer consumption.

The government's announcement last week to reduce vehicular traffic on certain downtown roads of San José at peak hours and to shift working hours of government employees next month is now more critical than ever.