MOUNTING GLOBAL RISKS
Submitted by christian on Sat, 06/25/2022 - 14:26
- War in Ukraine
- China has become increasingly assertive especially over Taiwan. China has refused to denounce Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and both have become bellicose towards what they see as the vested interests of the world's leading democracies, the G7 nations against them.
- A global food crunch is on the way
- Global commodity crisis
- Oil prices are spiking
- Grim state of the global economy. Global economic slowdown is looming
- A cost-of-living crisis is looming
- Inflation is rising
- Central banks are raising lending rates
- Spiralling food and fuel costs threaten to worsen the humanitarian plight of people caught up in existing crisis, spark unrest and instability in other poorer nations and drive political upheaval in the G7 countries themselves
- Many poor and middle-income countries – particularly those that import more than they export and whose major debt loads grew during the COVID-19 pandemic – will struggle to cope with high food and fuel costs. Whether higher prices bring tumult depends on local politics: some governments might be able to calm tempers through emergency spending, potentially aided by wealthy patrons; others might move to crush dissent; still others might face no new upheaval, simply because citizens are exhausted from years of protest over other grievances.
- Climate change aspirations are being confounded: Energy crisis threatens climate commitments.
- Supply chain problems
- Energy crisis
- Germany is now in crisis mode as Russia reduces its gas supplies to the country, weaponizing energy for influence as feared it is now saying it will fire up more coal plants. .
- Afghanistan: With almost 20 million Afghans facing hunger or starvation, humanitarian disaster is at hand and seems poised to grow.
- Lebanon: Global spikes in oil and wheat prices – are pushing Lebanon closer to the brink of state collapse. The country’s economy is already in tatters, after more than two years of runaway inflation, which hit 145 per cent in 2021. Public services are in disarray.
- Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s civil war and famine conditions amounting to a humanitarian tragedy on a scale we have not seen so far this century
- Haiti: Almost half the population already experiencing severe hunger.
- Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s worst-ever economic meltdown and the political crisis that has followed have brought the country close to catastrophe and elevated the risk of a return to political violence.
- The impact of climate change is increasing food insecurity, water scarcity and resource competition, while disrupting livelihoods and spurring migration. Today, half of the most climate-fragile countries also face conflict and crisis.
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