What's going on?

The price of oil hit a 14-year high on Monday, after the US threatened to cut all ties with the world�s third-biggest oil producer.

What does this mean?

The oil price already hit an eight-year high last week, when global refineries and banks refused to buy the slippery elixir from a warmonger like Russia. And the supply squeeze now looks set to get worse: the West is ramping up sanctions in a bid to put more pressure on Russia�s flailing economy and bring the conflict to an end. The US government, for one, said this weekend that it�s thinking about outright banning Russian oil imports. And since that would leave an even smaller supply of oil up for grabs, its announcement drove up the price of Brent crude � a key international oil benchmark � to an eye-watering $139 a barrel on Monday.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Here comes stagflation.
The International Monetary Fund warned over the weekend that the effects of the war � including higher food and energy prices � could cripple the global economy going forward. It�s not the only one: JPMorgan�s economists just cut their outlook for global economic growth this year by 1% (tweet this), while some analysts have expressed concern that America�s ban might tip us into �stagflation� � the dreaded mixture of slowing growth and rising inflation.

Zooming out: China�s nothing if not contrarian.
China has mostly kept out of the fray so far, and the West�s sanctions aren�t exactly a pressing concern: Russian and Ukrainian trade and investment only make up a small proportion of its economy. That might be why the country is still confident it can grow its economy by 5.5% this year. As for how, economists reckon it�ll invest heavily in its infrastructure, as well as cut interest rates to encourage borrowing and spending � even as other major economies raise theirs.