IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva did not mention the new conflict at opening events. Later, as Israel’s retaliatory strikes mounted, she struggled to address it, describing it as a human tragedy but a vague source of economic uncertainty.
In private conversations at the meetings, the Israel-Gaza conflict’s implications were front and centre, from a new refugee crisis to trade impacts and the threat of fighting in Lebanon and the West Bank, participants from finance groups to non-profits told Reuters.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is even more controversial — almost impossible to reach consensus,” the official said. Senior World Bank Group officials were more pointed in a statement to staff, saying they were “shocked and appalled by the unprecedented escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza.” The IMF’s steering committee agreed to boost quota funding by year-end, leaving the door open to doing so without adjusting its shareholding structure to give China more votes, while a US$3 billion fundraising goal for its poor-country trust fund was met.