Saudi oil giant Aramco - one of the largest companies in the world - is preparing to sell assets worth more than several tens of billions of dollars, as part of a broader business strategy. When a company of that rank starts to sell, the whole market pricks up its ears.

A sale of assets on this scale isn't a sign of weakness in itself - it's often a move to free up capital and restructure. But the timing is telling: it's happening at a moment when oil prices are falling, and the oil giants are looking for ways to keep their dividends and finance the costly transition to other sources of revenue.

For a country like ours, which has no oil of its own, news like this looks distant - but it isn't. The moves of the biggest players on the oil market spill directly onto the price of fuel at the pumps here, with the usual delay. When Aramco restructures, sooner or later it's felt in the budget of a Macedonian household too.

The point such news carries is simple: the global economy is connected far more than we like to admit. A decision made in Riyadh can end up as a few denars' difference at a pump in Skopje. The only question is whether anyone even explains to us why fuel here gets more expensive - or whether, as always, it merely "follows global trends" when it needs to rise, and forgets to follow them when it needs to fall.