Protecting the Most Vulnerable from the Middle East Shock

https://www.wbginstitute.org/topic/342/protecting-the-most-vulnerable-from-the-middle-east-shock Since the outbreak of war on February 28, 2026, ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz have fallen by roughly 95 percent. The consequences are global: historic highs in energy prices, cascading cost increases in fertilizers, aluminum, and petrochemicals, and disruption of production and trade. For the World Bank Group's client countries, this shock risks undoing years of hard-won development progress.