Challenges of Conflict, Industrial Policy for Development in MENAAP © 2026 Grupo Banco Mundial.

Conflict is reshaping the economic landscape of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAAP) with consequences being felt far beyond the front lines. Join Indermit Gill, Ousmane Dion, Roberta Gatti, Karen Young, and Ishac Diwan, for a timely discussion on the economic toll conflict is having across the MENAAP region — and what it will take to build a more resilient future. Drawing on the World Bank Group's latest MENAAP Economic Update, the conversation explores a stark picture: regional growth forecasts for 2026 have been cut from a 4.2% projected in January 2026, to 1.8%, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts oil and gas exports from the Gulf, infrastructure damage erodes productive capacity, and inflationary pressures mount across the region. Rising energy costs, weaker tourism, declining remittances, and financial market volatility are compounding the strain — while displacement and food insecurity deepen the human cost. Going beyond the immediate crisis , panelists examine how industrial policy can address the region's longer-standing structural challenges — chronic low growth, a sluggish private sector, high unemployment, and an economic over-reliance on oil and gas sectors — and what its limitations are. © 2026 Grupo Banco Mundial.