The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts an average price of $50.03 per barrel of oil in 2021, up 20% compared to its 2020 average, the OilPrice website reported on Tuesday.

The IMF is thus raising its forecasts for 2021 made last October, during which the international institution expected an average barrel of oil to 46.7 dollars this year. The average price per barrel was 41.29 dollars in 2020, affected by the coronavirus pandemic that brought the global economy to its knees.

The IMF also forecasts an average price per barrel of around 48.82 dollars for next year, in 2022. The IMF calculates the price of a barrel of oil by averaging the three main benchmarks, namely Brent, American WTI, and Dubai Light

The barrel of Brent from the North Sea, the benchmark for Algerian oil, rose above the 56 dollar mark yesterday Tuesday. On Wednesday, it started the day on the rise (56.31 dollars at 11:40 a.m.), after the announcement of the fall of 5.3 million barrels in crude stocks in the United States last week

Oil prices are also driven by the lowest number of new cases of Covid-19 infections in more than two weeks in China, according to agencies.