BY DELISA THWALA
EZULWINI– The currently ongoing retreat of the Association of Senates, SHOORA and Equivalent Councils of Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA), seeks to discuss in detail a number of the themes.
One of the themes is the impact of the Multifaceted International Crises on the economies of Africa and the Arab World.
United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator George Wachira said over the past three years, the world has experienced negative economic shocks, primarily the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said the world has made strenuous efforts to overcome the resulting economic difficulties, bearing heavy costs, most notably the huge rise in public and private debts, the increase in inflation rates, the high costs of energy, minerals and food, and supply chain disruptions.
“As the world came out of the crisis tunnel, the Russian-Ukrainian war began, which re-mixed global economic conditions, strained international relations, raised levels of uncertainty, deepened the crisis in energy, food, mineral and fertilizer prices and raised concerns about their supplies,” he said.
He further said the conflict is still a major blow to the global economy. As a result of these successive crises, price increases for food commodities have been the largest since 2008, and container shipping rates worldwide have increased by about ten times, with a significant increase in the levels of internal freight, while the increase in energy prices over the past two years has been the largest since the 1973 oil crisis.
“The entire global economy feels the effects of slower growth and faster inflation and these crises added additional risks to the course of the global economy and stimulated some of the dilemmas experienced by many global economies Theme 2 Objectives in an effort to undertake the functions and objectives of the Association of Sena,” he said.
