Middle East News: Climate-related disasters pose ‘major’ growth threat in Middle East, Central Asia – IMF – Gulf Digital News

Middle East News: Climate-related disasters pose ‘major’ growth threat in Middle East, Central Asia – IMF – Gulf Digital News

The frequency and severity of climate-related disasters are rising faster in the Middle East and Central Asia than anywhere in the world, posing a "major threat" to growth and prosperity, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.

A new International Monetary Fund paper showed that climate disasters in the region injured and displaced 7 million people in an average year, causing more than 2,600 deaths and $2 billion in physical damage.

"Droughts in North Africa, Somalia and Iran. Epidemics and locust infestations in the Horn of Africa. Severe floods in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The list of disasters is quickly getting longer," Georgieva said in remarks prepared for the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Analysis of data spanning the past century showed that temperatures in the region had risen by 1.5° C, twice the global increase of 0.7° C, and already sparse precipitation had become more erratic than in any other region, the IMF report said.

Georgieva said extreme weather events typically cut annual economic growth by 1–2 percentage points per capita.

In the Caucasus and Central Asia subregion, she said, such events had caused a permanent loss in the gross domestic product level of 5.5 percentage points.

She called on all countries to adapt their