Global growth to suffer due to Middle East war: World Bank chief

WASHINGTON: The war in the Middle East will have a cascading impact on the global economy, even if the fragile ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump takes hold, World Bank President Ajay Banga told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

And the damage will be far more serious if the ceasefire fails and the conflict escalates, he said. Banga on Tuesday said global growth could be lowered by 0.3 to 0.4 percentage points in a baseline scenario, with an early end to the war, and by as much as 1 percentage point if it endures.

Inflation could increase by 200 to 300 basis points, with a much higher impact of up to 0.9 percentage points if the war continues, he said. The war, which has killed thousands of people across the Middle East, has sent the price of oil up by 50pc while disrupting supplies of oil, gas, fertiliser, helium and other goods, as well as tourism and air travel.

The two-week ceasefire announced by Trump appears tenuous, with Israel and Iran continuing strikes. Iran said on Friday that blocked Iranian assets must be released and a ceasefire must take hold in Lebanon before US-Iran talks, scheduled for Saturday in Pakistan, can proceed.

Trump said that US warships were being reloaded with ammunition in case the talks failed.

“The question really is, does this current peace and the negotiations that are going to be happening this weekend — will this lead to a lasting peace and then a reopening of the Strait (of Hormuz)?” asked Banga. “If it doesn’t lead to that, and if conflict were to break out again, would that have an even larger impact, or longer-term impact on energy infrastructure?”

Banga said the world’s largest development bank was already in discussions with some developing countries, including small island states with no natural energy resources, about tapping funds from existing programs under “crisis response windows.”

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2026