A woman rests while selling mangoes at a shelter for displaced people at the Rex Theatre in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Clarens SIFFROY / AFP) The conflict in the Middle East could push millions more towards hunger as its economic fallout reverberates further around the globe, the World Bank's chief economist warned in an AFP interview on April 15. "You have about 300 million people who suffer from acute food insecurity already," Indermit Gill said. "That'll go up by about 20 percent very, very quickly," as knock-on effects grow. Gill spoke on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington. The blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil supply route, has sent fertilizer prices soaring since they rely on oil-based inputs. Higher prices for fertilizers may entice countries to halt food exports and hoard more food for themselves, further driving up food prices. "Those export bans scare us massively," Gill ...