BANGKOK: Finance officials from around the world will gather in Bangkok this week under the shadow of a widening war in the Middle East, the biggest-ever energy supply shock and rising interest rates that together pose daunting risks to already-sluggish global economic growth.
The US-Israeli-led war with Iran, now in its eighth month, and its inflationary impact, will dominate the agenda and sideline conversations during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, being held outside of Washington for the first time in three years.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters during a tour of the 300,000 square-meter Queen Sirikit National Convention Center on Sunday evening that 18,000 people were registered to attend the meetings, 4,000 more than the last off-site meetings held in Morocco in October 2023.
