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By Bloomberg

The collapse in oil prices won’t be enough to boost growth around the world as major economies face unemployment, political uncertainty and shrinking profits from crude exports, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

While the U.S. and India will benefit from cheaper oil, some net importers in the Group of 20, including China and Japan, face challenges that will offset their savings on crude, Moody’s said in a report Wednesday, keeping its economic growth outlook for the group unchanged at below 3 percent a year in 2015 and 2016. Lower energy prices will also damp growth in net exporters, particularly Russia and Saudi Arabia, it said.

Lower oil prices “will fail to lift global growth significantly as headwinds from the euro area, China, Brazil and Japan hold back economic activity,” Moody’s analysts including Marie Diron, a senior vice president, wrote in the note.

Moody’s projection contrasts with views by consultants and analysts including those at Citigroup Inc., who have described the slide in crude prices as a major stimulus to the global economy. Citi estimated in October that the drop in oil would save the world’s economies as much as $1.1 trillion annually by lowering the cost of fuels and other commodities.

Moody’s growth forecasts are based on Brent crude averaging $55 a barrel in 2015 and $65 in 2016, and assumes that prices will stay near current levels this year as “demand and supply conditions are unlikely to change markedly in the near future.” The European benchmark grade, which slumped 48 percent in 2014, traded at $56.45 a barrel by 12:32 p.m. Singapore time.

A drop in crude prices will reduce inflation that has constrained growth in India, while savings from cheaper oil will boost spending among consumers and companies in the U.S., according to Moody’s. In China, lower prices won’t stop an economic slowdown in the world’s biggest energy consumer amid higher taxes and price controls.

G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and the EU.