World facing 'most complex' situation in decades: WEF

THE world is facing the “most complex” geopolitical situation seen in decades, the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF) told AFP yesterday, warning that turmoil was “impacting global growth”.

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“It is the most complex geopolitical and geo-economic backdrop we've seen in decades,’ WEF President and CEO Borge Brende said ahead of a meeting of the multilateral forum in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

“If we are not able to revive growth again, we can unfortunately see a decade of lower growth,” he warned.

Officials including Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will attend this week’s WEF meeting in the port city of Tianjin - known colloquially as the “Summer Davos”.

The meeting comes hard on the heels of the United States’ involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict and follows months in which the global economy has been battered by a tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump.

This month, the World Bank cut its forecast for global growth this year from 2.7% to 2.3%, following a similar reduction by the International Monetary Fund.