The US-Israeli war against Iran and hostilities in the Middle East could push millions more people towards hunger, the World Bank’s chief economist warned in an interview with the AFP news agency. “About 300 million people already suffer from acute food insecurity,” Indermit Gill said. He added that “this number will increase by about 20 percent very quickly” as the ripple effects of the crisis spread.
According to the American economist, people in countries that are at war or have fragile governments are most exposed. He added that if the situation is not resolved soon, “hunger will start to hit these countries massively.”
“The food that is currently on the market has already been produced,” Gill said, but the real effects of the crisis could be felt within months. Indermit Gill, who is the World Bank Group’s chief economist and senior vice president for Development Economics, gave the interview to AFP on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.