Global economic resilience is once again being tested by the latest war in the Middle East, IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on Thursday.
“This conflict, if it turns out to be more protracted, could obviously affect global energy prices, market sentiment, growth and inflation, and impose new demands on policymakers around the world,” Georgieva said during a live broadcast of the “Asia 2050” conference in Bangkok.
The United States and Israel began launching strikes against Iran on Saturday, martyring its supreme leader and triggering a wave of retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.
The conflict in the resource-rich region has sent global oil prices soaring and markets in turmoil.
“We are in a world of more frequent and more unexpected shocks and we have been warning our members for some time now that uncertainty is now the new normal,” Georgieva said on Thursday.
“We are potentially in a prolonged period of change.”
Energy security is “at stake” for most of Asia, she told the conference in the Thai capital, noting that markets have fluctuated “like a roller coaster over the last couple of days.”
“So the sooner we see an end to the calamity, the better it will be for the whole world.”
