Yaoundé, 28 May 2026 (ECA) – The ongoing conflict in the Middle East could fundamentally reshape global energy, logistics and industrial dynamics, with particularly severe implications for Central African economies. This was the key message emerging from the high-level webinar organized by the Subregional Office for Central Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) under the theme: “The Middle East war and its implications in Central Africa.”
Bringing together government officials, experts from regional economic communities, academics, financial institutions and private sector actors, the discussions highlighted the growing complexity of a crisis now widely recognized as multidimensional spanning energy security, food systems, geopolitics, industrial development and regional stability.
Opening the discussions, the Director of ECA’s Subregional Office for Central Africa stressed the urgent need for the subregion to move beyond short-term responses and embrace a collective vision for economic sovereignty and strategic transformation.
“Central Africa possesses all the assets required to become a major energy, metallurgical, agricultural and green growth powerhouse. The subregion holds nearly 65 per cent of Africa’s energy resources and around 25 per cent of the continent’s water resources. Yet without stronger regional integration and local value addition, these resources will continue to fuel the economies of other continents.”
Participants underscored the increasing geopolitical complexity of the conflict. In his keynote presentation, Adama Ekberg Coulibaly, Chief of the Subregional Initiatives Section at the ECA Subregional Office for Central Africa, recalled that the Middle East accounts for nearly 48 per cent of proven global oil reserves and close to 40 per cent of global natural gas reserves, making the region the epicenter of global energy tensions.
At the centre of global concerns lies the Strait of Hormuz; a strategic maritime corridor through which nearly 20 million barrels of oil transit every day, representing close to 25 per cent of global seaborne oil trade, alongside a significant share of global fertilizer and gas shipments. Any prolonged disruption in this critical passage would automatically trigger major shockwaves across global energy, fertilizer and maritime transport markets.
According to experts, the impacts are already being felt across Central Africa.
Since the escalation of the conflict, international prices for hydrocarbons, gas and fertilizers have risen sharply, placing growing pressure on public finances and economic stability. Data presented during the webinar showed that some global fertilizer price indices have reached historic highs, at times exceeding USD 1,600 per tonne across certain market segments.
According to Abdelmadjid Attar, senior expert and former Algerian Minister of Hydrocarbons, the crisis above all exposes the structural vulnerability of African economies to external dependencies.
“Africa is not merely witnessing a distant conflict. It is directly experiencing the consequences of a global system in which energy, food, logistics and financial supply chains are deeply interconnected.”
He warned of compounded risks including slower economic growth, imported inflation, widening trade deficits and rising social pressures across several countries in the subregion.
Paradoxically, speakers also emphasized that the crisis could represent a historic opportunity to accelerate Central Africa’s structural transformation.
For Adama Ekberg Coulibaly, the region must now position itself as:
“an essential hub for energy, logistics and green solutions, as well as a strategic manufacturing base capable of locally transforming critical minerals and strategic products.”
He further stressed the importance of treating hydrocarbons not merely as export commodities, but as strategic instruments for regional integration, industrialization and economic resilience.
Participants called for ambitious and coordinated regional responses, including: the development of integrated regional value chains in hydrocarbons, fertilizers and agricultural products; investments in regional refineries and strategic storage infrastructure; the establishment of next-generation special economic zones focused on industrial transformation; accelerated development of transport corridors and logistics infrastructure; industrial upgrading within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); and the creation of a permanent regional platform for strategic foresight and crisis anticipation.
“We must seize this crisis as an opportunity to reposition Central African economies onto a path of transformation, innovation and sustainable growth,” concluded Jean Luc Mastaki.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
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