The first vice president and acting minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, pointed out this Saturday that geopolitical tensions and conflicts are the greatest source of uncertainty for the world economy despite the fact that it has shown to be more resilient than expected.
In statements during a press conference framed in the meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank held these days in Morocco, the vice president highlighted the difficult context after years marked by the end of the pandemic, inflation, hardening monetary, the supply crisis, energy prices and Russia’s “terrible war of aggression” against Ukraine.
In fact, Calviño, who is now concluding her mandate as an IMF advisor, has confirmed that in the meetings “many have identified war and conflict as the main source of instability for the world economy at this time” after the resurgence in large scale of the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
In this regard, the managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Gueorguieva, has lamented the loss of innocent civilians in Israel and has called for the need to find a way to prevent the death of civilians in Gaza.
However, the Hungarian-born leader has pointed out, regarding this new outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, that in terms of impact on the global economy it is too early to anticipate any consequences, although “it must be recognized that it is another source of uncertainty”.
Precisely because of this depiction of a geopolitical context marked by turbulence, Calviño has claimed that the global economy contributed to stability and confidence and has urged that “it is more important than ever” that these factors be ensured.
In this sense, Calviño has pointed out that in these meetings there is unanimity on the fundamental issues related to the function and mission of the international monetary funds and from which a “strong push” for multilateralism is extracted.
“Specifically, we have agreed on our common priorities to ensure financial stability, to reduce inflation, to ensure fiscal sustainability,” the head of the Spanish economy elaborated.
Likewise, it has vindicated the efforts to continue promoting IMF poverty reduction and development support programs that can help the most vulnerable countries, as well as the creation of a window to address the food shock and the improvement of tools to address the impact of climate change through the Resilience and Sustainability fund.
For his part, Calviño has also announced that sub-Saharan Africa will have a greater voice and representation with a new seat on the board of the international monetary organization for the region.
