M’East conflict: World Bank’s cash support coming for countries
The World Bank Group yesterday promised immediate provision of essential liquidity, trade finance, and working capital to countries impacted by the ongoing Middle East conflict. In a statement, the bank
- By Collins Nweze, Assistant Editor
The World Bank Group yesterday promised immediate provision of essential liquidity, trade finance, and working capital to countries impacted by the ongoing Middle East conflict.
In a statement, the bank said the support would come from its private sector arms, adding that a number of its clients in emerging markets have reached out to it as the conflict in the Middle East has started to impact commodity prices and logistics.
“We are working with governments, the private sector, regional partners, and other stakeholders to help them through this new set of challenges. We are closely monitoring global market developments, and we are in direct contact with the most affected client countries to understand what they are facing on the ground,” the bank said.
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It said that shipping route disruptions are increasing costs, and supply risks are spreading from energy into fertilizers and other critical agricultural inputs.
“Crude oil prices increased by nearly 40 per cent between February and March, the price of liquefied natural gas shipments to Asia rose by almost two-thirds, and the prices of nitrogen-based fertilizers increased by nearly 50 per cent in March,” the bank said.
The World Bank Group says its moving quickly to help client countries to navigate this crisis. We are ready to respond at scale — combining immediate financial relief with policy expertise and private sector support for the recovery of jobs and growth.
“We will draw on the full range of instruments we have available to support governments, firms, and households. Our aim is to deliver immediate relief by leveraging our active portfolio, our crisis response toolkit, and pre-arranged financing facilities. We will transition progressively to fast-disbursing instruments anchored in sound policies to underpin recovery,” it said.
“Clearly, this is an evolving situation and we cannot predict the full range of impacts. As everyone has said, the longer this lasts, and the more damage there is to critical infrastructure, the more challenging this will be for our clients. That said, we are determined to be helpful and do all we can to safeguard some of the hard-won economic progress that these countries are making,” it said.
