Forecasting crude oil prices by using ARIMA model : evidence from Tanzania

Abstract

PURPOSE: The fluctuation in the price of crude oil on the global market has created a lot of attention to the researchers to investigate its price movement. This study tries to address the problem of predicting crude oil prices in a situation of unusual circumstances.

METHODOLOGY: In this study, Box Jenkins methodology was used to analyze monthly dynamics of the Brent oil price from January 2002 to February 2022. Data were first differenced to achieve stationarity, and then ACF and residual diagnostics were utilized to choose models that were used for analysis.

FINDINGS: The performance of various models were evaluated and ARIMA (0, 1, 1) was found to be the best model for forecasting crude oil prices. This study further reveals that despite the corona virus and the Ukraine war having a considerable impact on crude oil prices, such a model is still capable of capturing the underlying volatility in crude oil prices.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Oil demand suddenly decreased as a result of the corona outbreak, but then abruptly increased as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Therefore, there is a need to update the ARIMA model in order to best predict the price of crude oil in a time of exceptional circumstances. Because of the nature of world oil market, predictions for the medium and long term are often therefore, we have limited the scope of our forecasts in this study to a single year in order to achieve the highest level of accuracy.