中东国家的能源补贴及其改革

Energy Subsidies and Reforms in the Middle Eastern Countries

长期以来,油气资源和能源补贴一直是中东国家经济与社会发展的主要特征,尤其是其以能源补贴为特征的能源消费政策对中东经济与社会发展具有重大影响。中东国家能源补贴政策具有特定的历史、思想和市场基础,与该地区丰富的油气资源、自然资源赋权的社会契约思想和发展缓慢的多元化经济密切相关。能源补贴政策曾对中东发展经济、社会和政治治理起到了积极作用,但是它的消极作用和不利影响也显而易见。能源补贴刺激了能源消费,鼓励了资源浪费,导致低效率的稀缺资源分配,扭曲了市场价格,阻碍了节能投资和节能行为,降低了下游产业的竞争优势,增加了政府财政负担。能源补贴未能体现稀缺资源的价值,是对稀缺资源市场供求关系的严重扭曲以及对市场配置资源的严重背离,最终不是促进而是阻碍了经济社会发展。在此意义上,中东国家能源补贴改革势在必行,但因中东国家能源补贴改革的实质是利益调整,涉及面广,改革不可能一步到位,难以一蹴而就。

For a long time,oil and gas resources and energy subsidies have been the main characteristics of economic and social development in the Middle Eastern countries,especially its energy consumption policy characterized by energy subsidies,which has a significant impact on the economic and social development of the Middle Eastern countries.The energy subsidy policy in the Middle Eastern countries has a specific historical,ideological and market basis,which is closely related to the rich oil and gas resources,the social contract ideology of natural resource empowerment and the slow development of economic diversification of the region.Energy subsidy policy has a certain historical status and positive role,but its negative and adverse effects are also obvious.It stimulates energy consumption,encourages waste of resources,leads to inefficient allocation of scarce resources,distorts market prices,hinders energy-saving investment and energy-saving behavior,reduces the competitive advantage of downstream industries,and increases the financial burden of the government.Energy subsidies fail to reflect the value of scarce resources,which is a serious distortion of the supply-demand relationship in the scarce resources market and a serious deviation from the market allocation of resources.In the end,energy subsidies do not promote,but hinder economic and social development.In this sense,the reform of energy subsidies in the Middle Eastern countries is imperative and of far-reaching significance.Nevertheless,the essence of energy subsidy reform in the Middle Eastern countries is interest adjustment,which covers a wide range of fields and is difficult to achieve over night.Although reform cannot be achieved in one step and the road is still long,the Middle East countries should persist in it.