Iran war cost Arab economies $150 billion in first month, UN official says
The war involving Iran cost Arab economies about $150 billion in its first month, equivalent to 4% of regional GDP, according to an estimate cited Thursday by the head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
“According to ESCWA estimates, the cost of the conflict alone, during the first month of the crisis, reached $150 billion, equivalent to four percent of the regional GDP,” Rania Al-Mashat, UN under-secretary-general and ESCWA executive secretary, said at a Bahrain-convened UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting.
The Sept. 17 meeting, titled “Safe Seas, Shared Security: Protecting Freedom of Navigation in an Evolving Security Environment,” focused on maritime security and freedom of navigation.
Al-Mashat said disruption to maritime routes through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab threatened essential supplies, economic stability, investment and employment, and called for coordinated action to safeguard navigation and prevent the conflict from widening.
She described maritime routes from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz and onward to the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab as an interconnected system carrying energy, food and trade to global markets.