Digital Zeitgeist – According To WEF Soaring Food And Energy Prices Could Persist ‘For Next Two Years’
This warning is included in the yearly report on global risks that will be presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.
An analysis that was created for the World Economic Forum that will take place next week in Davos, Switzerland, has issued a warning that soaring costs for energy and food might continue for the next two years, therefore hindering global efforts to address poverty and the climate disaster.
In the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual report on global risks, a poll of more than 1,200 global experts, politicians, and business leaders revealed that the international cost of living crisis brought on by the Covid epidemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine were at the top of the list of concerns.
In the lead-up to the annual meeting of world leaders in the Swiss Alpine resort, the IMF issued a warning that the energy and food supply bottleneck was expected to continue for the next two years as the greatest threat to the global economy. This warning came as the IMF was sounding the alarm.
It was highlighted how the pandemic and the war in Europe have triggered a series of deeply interconnected global risks, and it was stated that the fallout could undermine collaboration between countries to tackle longer-term problems such as the crisis with the climate, protecting biodiversity, and efforts to reduce poverty.
“These create follow-on risks that will dominate the next two years: the risk of recession; growing debt distress; a continued cost of living crisis; polarised societies enabled by disinformation and misinformation; a hiatus on rapid climate action; and zero-sum geo-economic warfare,” the report said.
According to the World Economic Forum analysis, which was developed in collaboration with Marsh McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, the “window for action” on the most critical long-term concerns was fast closing.
“Concerted, collective action is needed before risks reach a tipping point,” it said. “Unless the world starts to cooperate more effectively on climate mitigation and climate adaptation, over the next 10 years this will lead to continued global warming and ecological breakdown.”
After the impact to the global economy from Covid was followed by the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, which drove up wholesale energy costs and disrupted food supply networks, inflation skyrocketed in many nations across the world.
As a result of the effects of the war, persistently high inflation, and the rising cost of financing for households, businesses, and governments as a result of major central banks pushing up interest rates, it is anticipated that one-third of the global economy will be in a recession in the year 2023. This will reflect the cumulative impact of these factors.
A managing director of the World Economic Forum named Saadia Zahidi made the following statement: “The short-term risk landscape is dominated by energy, food, debt, and disasters.” Those people who are already the most vulnerable are the ones who are suffering the most, and as a result of many crises, the population of people who qualify as vulnerable is quickly growing across the board, in both wealthy and developing nations.
“Climate and human development must be at the core of concerns of global leaders, even as they battle current crises. Cooperation is the only way forward.”
online sources: theguardian.com, weforum.org