Officials at IMF–World Bank meetings warn Iran war is amplifying fiscal and market stress

- At the IMF–World Bank spring meetings, officials warned the Iran war is amplifying fiscal and market fragility, moving focus from classic debt distress to war‑driven energy and security shocks. - Delegates singled out Bahrain’s thin fiscal buffers as vulnerable amid the conflict, civil‑society groups (ActionAid) accused the IMF and World Bank of privileging creditors, and EBC Financial modelled divergent equity outcomes by scenario. - Markets are already pricing geopolitical paths; regional exposure matters as investors now stress‑test portfolios for energy, inflation, and bond‑yield shocks. (thenationalnews.com) (gnnliberia.com) (ebc.com)