The Palestine-Israel conflict must be resolved “as quickly as possible” as the risk of economic spillover becomes severe with each passing day, the International Monetary Fund’s General Secretary Kristalina Georgieva told Bloomberg on Friday.

“We pray for resolving this conflict as quickly as possible; the longer it goes the more the risk of spillovers grow and where we are as a world, we simply cannot afford more uncertainty and hatred,” Georgieva said in the video interview. “Fast resolution is what would help people and the world.”

Neutral Stance

The IMF has a duty of neutrality to be able to provide “objective” policy advice on economic matters to all member nations, Georgieva said when asked if the fund can initiate a dialogue between Israel and Egypt over the disputed Palestinian territory.

“There are institutions that are a better fit to bring countries together on a political level than the fund,” she said.

“The fund is now focussed on carefully monitoring what could be the economic impact of the new eruption of tensions in the Middle East.”

The IMF on Thursday released a statement saying it hopes for “peace and stability” amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, which has resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.

“The IMF deeply mourns the tragic loss of life of so many civilians in Israel and Gaza,” the fund said in the statement.

“To those who have lost loved ones, to colleagues and partners in the region, and those worried about family and friends, you are in our thoughts. We hope that peace and stability prevail.”

Cloud over world economy

The ongoing war has cast a dark cloud over an already weak world economy, Georgieva said at an IMF annual conference event in Morocco on Thursday.

She said the organization is “very closely monitoring how the situation evolves,” and its impact on the oil markets.

While it is still early to assess the war’s impact on the global economy, Georgieva said, “this is a new cloud on not the sunniest horizon for the world economy.”