Business

Oil at $150 will trigger global recession, says boss of financial giant BlackRock

Published

7 months ago

2026/03/25

Priyan

Larry Fink was speaking exclusively to BBC business editor Simon Jack (BBC)

If the price of oil hits $150 a barrel it will trigger a global recession, the boss of US financial giant BlackRock has told the BBC.

Larry Fink, who leads the world’s largest asset manager, said if Iran “remains a threat” and oil prices stay high it will have “profound implications” for the world economy.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, he also denied there was an AI bubble, although he said the new technology meant too many people were pursuing university degrees and not enough doing technical training.

BlackRock is a financial colossus, controlling assets worth $14 trillion (£10.5tn), and is one of the biggest investors in many of the world’s largest companies.

Its size and spread gives Fink – who is one of the eight co-founders of the business, which started in 1988 – a unique insight into the health of the global economy.

The conflict in the Middle East has triggered wild moves on financial markets as people try to assess what will happen to energy costs.

For Fink, it is too early to determine the ultimate scale and outcome of the conflict, but he believes it will be one of two extreme scenarios.

In one, if the conflict is settled and Iran becomes a country that can be accepted again by the international community then the price of oil could fall back to below where it stood before the war.

But if not, he says, then there could be “years of above $100, closer to $150 oil, which has profound implications in the economy” and an outcome of “a probably stark and steep recession”.

The surge in energy costs has led to some in the UK to argue that it should be focusing more on producing its own oil and gas.

On Tuesday, industry body Offshore Energies UK said that without more domestic production, the country risks becoming reliant on imports “at a time of rising global instability”.

Fink says countries need to be pragmatic about their energy mix by using all sources available to them, but providing cheap energy is key to driving growth and raising living standards.

“Rising energy prices is a very regressive tax. It affects the poor more than the wealthy.”

While the UK already has some solar and wind power and hydrocarbons, if oil prices were to rise to $150 for three or four years, “you would have so many countries moving so rapidly towards solar and maybe even wind”.

Countries should not depend on just one source, he says.

“Use what you have unquestionably, but also aggressively move towards alternative sources too.”

Some analysts have suggested that there are some echoes of the run-up to the 2007-08 financial crisis in the markets at the moment.

Energy prices are surging and some have flagged signs of cracks in the financial system. BlackRock itself is one of several firms to have limited withdrawals by nervous investors from private credit funds.

But Fink is adamant there is no chance of a repeat of the financial trauma seen in 2007-08, when several banks around the world collapsed or had to be rescued, as he believes financial institutions today are more secure.

“I don’t see any similarities at all,” he says. “Zero.”

The issues affecting some funds account for a small fraction of the overall market and investment from institutions remains strong, he says.

Fink also rejects suggestions that the surge in investment in AI, which has seen billions of dollars invested in the new technology, has been overblown.

“I do not believe we have a bubble at all,” he says.

“Could we have one or two failures in AI? Sure, that I’m fine with.”

Last year, BlackRock was part of a consortium that bought one of the world’s largest data centre providers, Aligned Data Centres, in a $40bn deal.

“I believe there’s a race for technology dominance. I believe that if we do not invest more, China wins. I believe it’s mandatory that we are aggressively building out our AI capabilities.”

The biggest issue he feels that is hindering the expansion of AI in the US and Europe is the cost of energy.

While China is investing hugely in solar and nuclear power, in Europe “I just see a lot of talk and no action”, he says, while in the US “as much as we are energy independent, we better start focusing on solar… because we need to have cheap, inexpensive power to move into AI”.

Earlier this week, in his annual letter to shareholders, Fink said the boom in artificial intelligence risked widening inequality, with only a small number of firms and investors seeing the benefits.

However, speaking to the BBC, he emphasised AI was going to create an “enormous amount of jobs”.

He said that in his letter he had written about how many jobs would be created “related to electricians and welders and plumbers”.

In contrast, there might not be as much demand for some office jobs as AI evolves and this could lead to a rethink about what roles are needed as “society is changing and evolving”.

“We really put judgement on so many jobs and so many people who probably should not have gone into banking or media or law, [who] probably should have been a great worker with their hands, and we need to now rebalance that approach,” he says.

In the US, he says, after World War Two “we built the foundation of education, and we said to all the young people, go to college, go to college, go to college. And we probably overdid it”.

“We need to balance that out, and we need to be proud that… a career can be just as strong in these fields of plumbing and electricians.”

(BBC)

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Business

Needs of populace hit by Cyclone Ditwah seen as waiting to be addressed

Published

2 hours ago

2026/10/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Lionel Bopage: ‘Recovery painfully slow.’

By Hiran H. Senewiratne

The government is yet to address fully the needs of the Cyclone Ditwah affected populace though one year has elapsed. The devastation cost the country more than US $ 4.1 billion, an Australia-based Chartered Engineer of Sri Lankan origin said.

‘Cyclone Ditwah affected more than 2.2 million people in 25 districts, which is considered to be one tenth of the population. However, only 39 percent of the allocated funds have been spent to date, the speaker, a one-time General Secretary of the JVP, now living in Australia Lionel Bopage said.

He made these comments at a Rotary Club Colombo South monthly meeting held at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo recently.

Bopage quoted from a Loughborough University research report published in February to the effect that Sri Lanka has under invested in prevention but over invested in recovery.

Bopage added: ‘The largest single economic category affected were not buildings but the agriculture sector which provides livelihoods for the majority of affected persons. Therefore agricultural livelihoods have been hit most.

‘More than 58,000 hectares of paddy lands were flooded in the Eastern districts alone, while 46 reservoirs reached critical spill level or failed outright following the disaster.

‘A rapid education sector assessment found that 1,682 schools were affected and more than 555,000 children were unable to attend schools. Further, 622 water supply schemes had been left non-functional and apart from that 11300 homes were damaged or destroyed. But reconstruction is happening at a very slow pace.

‘Tens of thousands of households in the hill country and in the East are still living in damaged properties and on unstable slopes drawing water from schemes that have not been restored.

‘ A Post Disaster Needs Assessment put the cost of resilience at US$ 3.4 billion but restoration work is happening at a slow pace even with foreign donor assistance.’

Business

WB forecast buoys bourse but weak investor participation slows momentum

Published

2 hours ago

2026/10/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

By Hiran H. Senewiratne

The CSE yesterday kicked off on a positive note due to a World Bank forecast that Sri Lanka could achieve 4.4 percent economic growth this year but later lost momentum due to weak investor participation.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 132 points while S and P SL20 rose by 21.02 points.

Turnover stood at Rs 1.97 billion with three crossings. Those crossings were; Lanka IOC 2.7 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 470 million; its shares traded at Rs 127, CCS 2.7 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 315 million; its shares sold at Rs 118 and JKH five million shares crossed for Rs 91.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 18.30.

In the retail market companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Commercial Credit and Finance Rs 126 million (1.3 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 98 million (775,000 shares traded), Asiri Surgical Hospitals Rs 77 million (7.6 million shares traded), Commercial Bank Rs 51.3 million (307,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs 46 million (325,000 shares traded), HNB Rs 37 million (98000 shares traded) and Tokyo Cement Rs 31 million (393,000 shares traded). During the day 50 million share volumes changed hands in 14547 transactions.

It is said that the petroleum sector performed well, especially Lanka IOC, while in the banking sector counters, especially Commercial Bank and Sampath Bank performed well. In the manufacturing sector, JKH impressed.

TAL Lanka Hotels announced that it has scheduled an Extraordinary General Meeting on October 29 to obtain shareholder approval for a proposed Rs 1.87 billion rights issue. The proceeds will be utilized for the repayment of bank borrowings, part refurbishment of the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo, settlement of vendor liabilities, and general corporate requirements.

Yesterday the rupee was quoted at Rs 330.95/331.05 to the US dollar in the spot market, weaker from Rs 330.85/95 the previous day, while bond yields were quoted broadly steady, dealers said.

Business

Huawei continues to showcase practical AI applications at Sri Lanka AI Week 2026

Published

2 hours ago

2026/10/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lanka AI Week 2026 continued into its second day bringing together government, industry, academia and technology partners to explore practical applications of artificial intelligence. As the AI Technology Partner for the second consecutive year, Huawei showcased 18 use cases spanning government, education, finance, industry, green energy and everyday life, demonstrating how AI can be applied to real-world needs.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya visited the Huawei exhibition together with officials from the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, experiencing the Smart Classroom, AI in Education and MindGraph by Beijing Normal University demonstrations. The Smart Classroom demostration highlighted how connected technologies can bring teachers and students in different locations into a shared learning environment, while the AI in Education showcase demonstrated how AI can support teachers, enhance learning and enable more personalised education. The Prime Minister praised the efforts of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Huawei and their partners to demonstrate practical applications of AI in education, noting the role of technology in supporting teachers, expanding learning opportunities, and advancing a more inclusive, equitable and future-ready education system.

Later in the day, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Chathuranga Abeysinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy Waruna Sri Dhanapala, and Chinese Ambassador Wei Huaxiang visited the Huawei exhibition and explored the AI Hands-On Classroom AI Empowering Industry, AI in Education and Smart Classroom demonstrations. Deputy Minister Weeraratne praised Huawei’s practical approach to showcasing AI applications, noting their relevance to Sri Lanka’s digital transformation across education, industry and skills development. The engagement also extended across the wider AI ecosystem, with industry professionals, technology partners, academics and other visitors engaging with the demonstrations and expressing appreciation for Huawei’s practical approach to applying AI across different areas of society and the economy.

Daniel Wu, CEO of Huawei Sri Lanka, said that Huawei will continue bringing global experience, technology and ecosystem resources to Sri Lanka, while working side by side with local partners to build local capabilities, develop local talent and create real value for the country. “I believe that by working together, we can make AI not only more intelligent, but also more local, more inclusive, and more meaningful for everyone,” he said.