Mahmoud Mohieldin, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund and former World Bank Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, warned of the lingering fallout from the Ukrainian-Russian war, the latest of which was an increase in interest rates on many of the world’s central banks, noting that the countries most affected by the consequences of this war imported food and energy, and emphasized in his statements that he hoped that this would stop in order to stop the losses, whether physical, food or otherwise, indicating that the war had caused crises in food, fuel and fertilizer, and caused high inflation in the region, emphasizing that even if the war stops now, everything will not return. to the world.
Diversification of food and energy sources
He stressed the need to take advantage of economic fields, including redesigning the behavior of global supply chains, by diversifying food, energy and other new fuel sources. On the issue of fuels, he stressed that new fuel sources such as natural gas should be considered, and emphasized the importance of supporting solar and wind energy, strengthening ties with neighboring countries and European countries that have announced that they will not be able to be self-sufficient in green hydrogen, and therefore will depend on neighboring countries.
He pointed out that when international organizations lend to countries in need, they depend on the ability of countries to negotiate and the timing of the loan request, which is related to the question of conditions, whether they are unfair or not, and each lender has the right to impose conditions to protect their money, emphasizing that the World Bank is not the only place for funding and there are alternatives such as regional funds and the international financial market.
