"Even Us in Africa, We Are Facing This," Expert Exposes Supply Chain Shock Amid Middle East Crisis
"Even Us in Africa, We Are Facing This," Expert Exposes Supply Chain Shock Amid Middle East Crisis
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As US-Israeli strikes on Iran ignite global tensions, Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, commented on the moral hypocrisy of the West and Russia's active efforts in stabilizing the situation in the region. Additionally, African experts warn of dire economic consequences if the crisis persists.
Another crisis is unfolding far from the battlefields, as the US-Israeli strikes on Iran continue to reverberate across the world. It's a crisis of economics, and it is reaching every corner of Africa. A fifth of the world's oil consumption and a large portion of its needed natural gas pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Professor Solomon Asiimwe, Professor of International Relations in Uganda, shares his analysis with Sputnik Africa. He cuts through the fog of war, exposing its significant impact on global supply chains and the harsh realities for African countries if the Middle East tensions persist.
“The situation in the Strait of Hormuz is critically important to the global economy [...] without a full blockade, heightened risk alone can disrupt global supply chains. We are already seeing early indicators, high insurance premiums for tankers, rising freight rates, and increasing rerouting costs [...] Even us in Africa, we are facing this. We are fearing that the price of fuel will go up very soon; if these tensions persist, the impact could unfold in several layers [...] Developing economies like ours in Africa, which are more vulnerable to community shocks, could be disproportionately [affected]. We saw during previous regional crises how energy prices spiked, feeding into global inflation and even monetary tightening cycles. In Africa we had even a problem for those people who depend on wheat; they had a problem [...] The impact on global supply chains could be significant, not necessarily through physical scarcity at first, but through sustained uncertainty, cost increases, and financial volatility. And in today's interconnected economy, even limited maritime disruption can have outsized global consequences,” the professor pointed out.
Furthermore, Joseph Kwame Kumah, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Ghana’s Parliament, also warned of dire economic consequences if the ongoing Middle East crisis continues.
“What is happening in the Middle East is not the best between America and Iran [...] It is something that will affect most nations that import oil from the oil-producing countries [...] Economically, it is going to affect the whole of Africa and the Middle East and even the superpowers [...] Oil production will go down, and the more oil production tends to go down, any nation that has not stored enough oil will have the same problem. That's the long-run effect of the hike in prices of fuel,” the legislator indicated.
This episode also features:
Hessam Heidarzadeh, the director of international relations at Mehr Media Group, which includes the Mehr News Agency and Tehran Times newspaper
Jotham Anzia, an economic strategist at the office of MCA Bungoma Township, Kenya
Discover more insights from our outstanding guests on the Pan-African Frequency podcast, proudly brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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