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The United Nations Trade and Development launched an online dashboard on the Strait of Hormuz to track the impact and risks of the continuing disruption in the crucial water lane
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Platform provides indicators on shipping, food, fuel, and finance that help monitor the evolving effects on various sectors across the world
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UNCTAD said what started as a shipping disruption has “deepened rapidly” with developing economies facing the biggest threats to growth
The United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has launched an online dashboard on the Strait of Hormuz to track the impact and risks of the continuing disruption in the crucial water lane.
The platform provides regularly updated information using indicators on shipping movements, food prices, crude oil, and finance, which help monitor the situation in the strait and evolving effects on various sectors across the world.
It also provides historical data for comparison during past crises such as the COVID pandemic and the start of the war in Ukraine.
“The dashboard is designed to show not only individual pressures, but how they can reinforce one another. Higher energy costs can raise fertilizer and food prices. Higher transport costs can push up import bills. Tighter financial conditions can reduce countries’ ability to respond,” UNCTAD said in a news release.
In its latest Global Trade Update issued earlier this month, UNCTAD said the Middle East conflict and its resulting impact on higher logistics costs and inflation will weigh down global trade this year with developing economies that have less financial flexibility bearing the bigger brunt.
READ: Middle East crisis weighs down global trade after 2025 growth—UNCTAD
The UN agency noted that what started as “a shipping disruption in one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints has become a wider development risk.”
The Strait of Hormuz serves as the passage for around a quarter of global seaborne oil trade as well as significant volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers, which all contribute directly into costs for transport, food production and inflation.
UNCTAD said the disruption, which started on February 28 when the United States and Israel attacked Iran, has “deepened rapidly.”
“The impact has also moved from gas to grain,” it said.
Global trade was moving with positive momentum when the year started, UNCTAD said, but geopolitical uncertainty, inflationary pressures and higher trade costs are now threatening economies, with smaller nations facing limited prospects for investment and growth.
