A fall in oil price should ordinarily benefit importers (less current account and currency pressure) and hurt exporters, particularly those at the more vulnerable extremes (eg Kenya and Pakistan among the importers, Oman and Nigeria among the exporters). But the world may be too interconnected to stick to such a stark dichotomy.
The benefit for oil importers may be offset by the hit to:
(1) Global growth (coronavirus and the oil price collapse drags growth down further from an anaemic starting point);
(2) Capital flows (eg contagion in financial markets in this sell-off, systemic impact on credit markets from defaults in the high yield segment, less foreign investment from oil-based sovereign wealth funds).
Furthermore, the collapse in the oil price (Brent is down over 30% in the last week) may serve to shorten the war on oil supply and market share between Saudi and Russia (and, indirectly, US shale).
Related reading
Oil war: Saudi, Russia can sustain a long war, but a 35% price drop shortens it, 9 March 2020
GCC: Sovereign wealth warning from the IMF (again), 7 February 2020
Coronavirus – The international policy response, 5 March 2020
Coronavirus: Should it be ignored because it is such an unquantifiable risk?, 25 February 2020
Coronavirus: Commodity prices hit as fears grow more global, 3 February 2020
Coronavirus: UAE case a warning for global tourism, 29 January 2020