BOAO, March 28. /TASS/. The global economy may disintegrate into separate trade blocks delineated by "geopolitical borders" due to aggravated international conflicts, Board Chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday in a statement released before the Forum opening.
"The globalized world economy risks fragmenting into separate trade blocks delineated along geopolitical borders," Ban noted.
The crisis in Ukraine is mentioned among the main risk factors. "The conflict in Ukraine continues into its second year. There is no end in sight and no ruling out an escalation sometime in the future," Ban said.
"Headline inflation peaked finally, and is expected to fall further as central banks take decisive actions to cool it off, but core inflation still persists at a high level," the ex-UN chief said. "There are already criticisms of overtightening, which threatens [to spark] a global recession and debt distress for low-income countries. The risk of complacency, however, is equally disastrous if inflation spirals out of control due to hesitancy or inaction," he noted.
Meanwhile, the "pressures of the virus and inflation have eased somehow into the year 2023," Ban said. "This is a critical turning point for the world economy. It is also a valuable window of time for countries to look beyond domestic concerns and refocus on global challenges," he urged.