WASHINGTON, United States: The conflict in the Middle East could push millions more towards hunger as its economic fallout reverberates further around the globe, the World Bank´s chief economist warned in an AFP interview on Wednesday.
“You have about 300 million people who suffer from acute food insecurity already,” Indermit Gill said. “That´ll go up by about 20 per cent very, very quickly,” as knock-on effects grow.
Gill spoke on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington.
The blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil supply route, has sent fertilizer prices soaring since they rely on oil-based inputs.
Higher prices for fertilizers, which are used in agriculture, may entice countries to halt food exports and hoard more food for themselves, further driving up food prices.
“Those export bans scare us massively,” Gill told AFP. Most exposed are people in countries that are at war or have fragile governments.
If the situation isn´t resolved soon, “hunger will start to stalk these countries massively.”
Currently, the shortage of petrochemicals and their economic effects are being most felt in Asia, Gill explained, but “as the crisis gets longer, it´s very rapidly going to spread first to Africa.”
“The food that´s in the market right now has already been grown,” Gill said, but the real effects could be felt in a few months.
Low-income people across the world tend to spend a larger share of their earnings on basic needs like food and fuel.
