Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war:
– **Oil prices slump**
Oil prices dipped on Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report that suggested US President Donald Trump was willing to end the Iran war even if the key Strait of Hormuz remained closed. Crude was still trading well above $100 a barrel, however, and market watchers said any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send prices to levels not seen for almost two decades.
– **Trump threatens Kharg hub**
Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub if a deal to end the war was not reached soon and the Strait of Hormuz did not “immediately” open. The island, located around 30 kilometres (19 miles) off the Iranian mainland, handles roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports, according to a JP Morgan note released early March.
– **Desalination plant hit**
Strikes have knocked out a desalination plant on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported, without saying when the attack took place. “One of the desalination plants on Qeshm Island was targeted…and is now completely out of service, as it is not possible to repair it in the short term,” the ISNA news agency reported, quoting health ministry official Mohsen Farhadi.
– **China ships transit**
China’s foreign ministry expressed gratitude “to the relevant parties” on Tuesday for helping three Chinese ships to transit out of the Strait of Hormuz. Two container vessels belonging to shipping giant Cosco passed through the strait on Monday, tracking data showed. Beijing gave no detail on the third ship.
– **Eurozone inflation**
Eurozone inflation leapt to 2.5 percent in March, the highest level since January 2025, owing to surging energy prices caused by the Middle East war.
– **Asia war woes**
Asia faces the gravest fallout from the war and is confronting a major energy crisis, the head of global maritime analytics firm Kpler told AFP on Tuesday. Jean Maynier said the continent did not have enough energy resources to cover the gap, adding: “It will not be enough in China, it will not be enough to cover in big countries like the Philippines or Indonesia. So it’s a real energy crisis.”
– **Indonesia rations fuel, rebuffs price hikes**
Indonesia on Tuesday announced fuel rationing and mandated work from home for civil servants as it seeks to conserve energy stocks amid global price hikes due to the Middle East war. It earlier said it would not increase fuel prices despite rising budget pressures from the war.
– **Kuwait tanker blaze**
An Iranian attack sparked a fire on a Kuwaiti oil tanker at Dubai Port, state media reported on Tuesday. There were no injuries, according to the report, and Dubai authorities later said firefighters had extinguished the blaze. Maritime intelligence agency Vanguard and ship tracker MarineTraffic identified the ship as the Al Salmi, a 332-metre (1090-feet) long Kuwait-flagged crude tanker.
– **Ethiopia rations fuel**
Ethiopia will prioritize vehicles transporting essential goods and those in the public transport sector at fuel stations as the country grapples with shortages caused by the Middle East war, authorities said Tuesday.
– **Sri Lanka hikes electricity**
Sri Lanka announced a nearly 40 percent increase in electricity prices from Wednesday as it battles an energy shortage caused by the war in the Middle East. Sri Lanka has raised fuel prices three times this month, increasing them by more than a third, and has imposed a four-day working week in a bid to save energy.
– **Lithuania chops train ticket prices**
Lithuania announced it would slash the price of domestic train tickets by half to provide travellers some respite from soaring fuel prices triggered by the war in the Middle East. The 50 percent reduction will apply from April 1 to May 31 on all domestic routes and for all classes, public rail operator LTG announced in a joint statement with the transportation ministry.
– **Panama Canal boost**
The war in the Middle East has prompted a surge in ships utilising the Panama Canal, an executive for the waterway said Monday. “We had expected around 34 daily passages” for this year, but in the last two weeks “we’ve been having 38, 39, 40,” the deputy administrator of the canal, Ilya Espino de Marotta, told Panama’s Telemetro TV in an interview.
© 2024 AFP
