Economist: $60 oil will be norm for next 5 years

Oil prices will stay around $60 a barrel for the next five years as China's economy cools down, economist Andy Xie told CNBC on Thursday.

The former Morgan Stanley and IMF senior economist said as China transitions from a 15-year super cycle that built up a massive industrial machine, the economy must cool down to digest overinvestment. That's expected to drag down commodity prices.

"When China goes into normal situation, I think that the oil price will become normal, too, so $60 would be the normal price for the next five years or so," he said

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