World Bank President Ajay Banga warned on Tuesday that the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas threatens to have serious economic consequences.
“I think what is happening in Israel and Gaza (…) will have a serious impact on economic development”Banga said at an investor conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I think we are at a very dangerous moment”he said, quoted by French agency AFP.
Hamas commandos launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which was followed by Israeli retaliation with the all-out siege of the Gaza Strip and continued bombardment of the area.
Israeli authorities say Hamas attacks have killed more than 1,400 people and the Palestinian group has kidnapped 220 Israelis and foreigners, holding them hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, said Israeli bombings have killed more than 5,000 people, including more than 2,000 children.
Israel, the United States and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
At the opening of the annual Future Investment Initiative conference, the World Bank president referred to the impact on the global economy and development of the “geopolitical changes of the past four years”.
Banga called for “joint efforts from all” international actors to limit the negative impact of these changes.
He complained that “the pandemic [de covid-19] followed by the war between Ukraine and Russia, and now the war between Israel and Gaza.”
“The global economy needs efforts” to recoverhe stated, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
He also believed that “geopolitical risks in some countries” pose an obstacle to private sector investment and “will have an impact on energy and supply chains.”
“It would be difficult to invest in a project for 10 or 15 years amid political or geopolitical uncertainty,” he told participants at the forum, often called “Davos of the desert,” in a reference to the meeting in Switzerland.
More than 6,000 delegates from 90 countries will participate in the three-day forum, including leaders of the world’s major banks and companies, and the presidents of South Korea, Kenya and Rwanda, organizers said.
Source: DN
