Americans are paying the lowest prices for gas in the last five years.

Gas prices are dropping, because travel drops between the summer travel season and the holidays, and cooler temperatures actually make gas cheaper to produce. That’s why gas prices always drop in the fall.

Since oil prices are dropping consumers are saving $83 to $80 per barrel, meaning that the economy may go up.

It is estimated that for every cent decline in gasoline prices, if it’s sustained for one year, $1.4 billion is added to the economy. And since June oil prices have dropped nearly 30 percent. If that price drop is sustained over the course of next year, prices at the pump will likely drop by over $1 per gallon of gas, which means $130 billion in the pockets of people to spend, according to www.thehill.com

Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that U.S. households have already saved about $75 billion over the past six months from the fall in gas prices. If prices were to stay at current levels, the average annual savings would be about $1,100 per household, which shows a positive effect on U.S. economy, according to www.vox.com.

Gasoline is a necessity and lower prices may help rescue the very economic growth people are worried about. But the bad news show that oil is falling just like the stock market. That would mean a longer period of zero interest rates, benefiting stocks over bonds, as the pressure on central banks to raise rates more or less evaporates. In the meantime a stronger dollar means emerging market stocks will be weaker than U.S. stocks, according to www.forbes.com.

The drop in oil price may be good news for people who need it, but for oil producers, exports, and companies providing services to the oil industry are getting affected by having to reduce profits for national oil companies.

The 12 members states often cooperate to influence oil prices around the world. However, Jim Krane, an energy expert at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, says members want to defend their share of the market and are unwilling to make production cuts, according to www.voanews.com.

U.S. companies are not alone in feeling pressure from falling prices. Oil makes up 83 percent of Nigeria’s exports and 70 percent of the nation’s economy according to www.voanews.com.