War, instability weighing down global economy: WTO chief

The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) warned on Monday that global instability and war were weighing on the global economy.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said this at a WTO meeting. biennial conference The United Arab Emirates said soaring prices for food, energy and fertilizers were contributing to global tensions and “stoking political discontent” around the world.

“Let’s stop pretending that everything is easy. We thought the world looked grim in mid-2022, when we were slowly emerging from the pandemic and when food and energy security was being shaken by the Ukraine war. Then we’re in an even tougher situation today,” she said.

“If we look around, we see uncertainty and instability everywhere. Geopolitical tensions are worsening. and the Arab world,” she added.

Okonjo-Iweala did not mention the Israel-Hamas war, but noted that attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea continue to disrupt shipping.

“Transportation disruptions in key waterways such as the Red Sea and the Panama Canal are causing new delays and inflationary pressures,” he said.

He noted that at least 60 countries will hold elections next year and said people are “feeling anxious” about the future. She did not speak directly about the U.S. election, in which President Biden and former President Trump are likely to face off again in November.

While in the White House, President Trump reportedly threatened to pull the United States out of the WTO and imposed tariffs on numerous countries during his time in office. In his remarks, Okionio-Iweala also said that cooperation between nations was “under attack”.

“In some areas, trade has become a four-letter word instead of a five-letter word,” she says.

“Without cooperation on trade, we will move towards an increasingly fragmented global economy and all of these priorities will become more difficult, more costly and in some cases impossible to achieve. “People are going to become even more disappointed, vulnerable and frustrated,” she added.

He said Comoros and Timor-Leste also joined the WTO at its opening session on Monday, bringing the number of members to 166.