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Colombia to Suspend Coal Sales to Israel Over Gaza War

The move is an escalation in a clash between two countries that have historically had warm relations, and which have had a free-trade agreement in force since 2020.Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
The move is an escalation in a clash between two countries that have historically had warm relations, and which have had a free-trade agreement in force since 2020.Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
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Colombia to Suspend Coal Sales to Israel Over Gaza War

The move is an escalation in a clash between two countries that have historically had warm relations, and which have had a free-trade agreement in force since 2020.Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
The move is an escalation in a clash between two countries that have historically had warm relations, and which have had a free-trade agreement in force since 2020.Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced Saturday that his country will suspend coal exports to Israel as a rebuke against its deadly war against Hamas in Gaza.

Colombia is Israel's main coal supplier with exports of some $450 million in 2023, according to the Israeli embassy in Bogota, which remains operational despite Petro's government severing diplomatic ties in May, AFP reported.

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president and a fierce critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Saturday on X that coal exports to Israel would be suspended "until the genocide stops."

A government decree specified that the restrictions would remain "until the orders of provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)... are fully complied with."

In late May, as part of a pending case brought by South Africa, the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, while also demanding the release of hostages and the "unhindered provision" of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

According to the Colombian government, the coal export ban will enter into force five days after the decree is published in the official gazette and will not affect goods that have already been authorized for shipment.

Bogota underscored coal's role as "a "strategic resource for the manufacture of weapons, the mobilization of troops and the manufacture of provisions for military operations."

Petro also said Colombia would stop purchasing weapons made by Israel, one of the main suppliers of the South American country's security forces.

On Thursday, the Colombian Mining Association expressed concern over the possibility of exports being suspended, noting a trade treaty between the two nations in place since 2020.

"Israel is a key destination for Colombia's thermal coal exports," the organization said in a statement, adding that banning shipments "jeopardizes confidence in markets and foreign investment."

Petro announced Colombia would sever ties with Israel in May over the Gaza conflict and open an embassy in Ramallah in the Palestinian territories.

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IMF: Middle East Conflict Escalation Could Have Significant Economic Consequences

Displaced families, mainly from Syria, gather at Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, where they spent the night fleeing the overnight Israeli strikes in Beirut, Lebanon September 28, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
Displaced families, mainly from Syria, gather at Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, where they spent the night fleeing the overnight Israeli strikes in Beirut, Lebanon September 28, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
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IMF: Middle East Conflict Escalation Could Have Significant Economic Consequences

Displaced families, mainly from Syria, gather at Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, where they spent the night fleeing the overnight Israeli strikes in Beirut, Lebanon September 28, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
Displaced families, mainly from Syria, gather at Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, where they spent the night fleeing the overnight Israeli strikes in Beirut, Lebanon September 28, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could have significant economic ramifications for the region and the global economy, but commodity prices remain below the highs of the past year.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack told a regular news briefing that the Fund is closely monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon with "grave concern" and offered condolences for the loss of life.

"The potential for further escalation of the conflict heightens risks and uncertainty and could have significant economic ramifications for the region and beyond," Kozack said.

According to Reuters, she said it was too early to predict specific impacts on the global economy, but noted that economies in the region have already suffered greatly, especially in Gaza, where the civilian population "faces dire socioeconomic conditions, a humanitarian crisis and insufficient aid deliveries.

The IMF estimates that Gaza's GDP declined 86% in the first half of 2024, Kozack said, while the West Bank's first-half GDP likely declined 25%, with prospects of a further deterioration.

Israel's GDP contracted by about 20% in the fourth quarter of 2023 after the conflict began, and the country has seen only a partial recovery in the first half of 2024, she added.
The IMF will update its economic projections for all countries and the global economy later in October when the global lender and World Bank hold their fall meetings in Washington.
"In Lebanon, the recent intensification of the conflict is exacerbating the country's already fragile macroeconomic and social situation," Kozack said, referring to Israel's airstrikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"The conflict has inflicted a heavy human toll on the country, and it has damaged physical infrastructure."
The main channels for the conflict to impact the global economy have been through higher commodity prices, including oil and grains, as well as increased shipping costs, as vessels avoid potential missile attacks by Yemen's Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea, Kozack said. But commodity prices are currently lower than their peaks in the past year.
"I just emphasize once again that we're closely monitoring the situation, and this is a situation of great concern and very high uncertainty," she added.
Lebanon in 2022 reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF on a potential loan program, but there has been insufficient progress on required reforms, Kozack said.
"We are prepared to engage with Lebanon on a possible financing program when the situation is appropriate to do so, but it would necessitate that the actions can be taken and decisive policy measures can be taken," Kozack added. "We are currently supporting Lebanon through capacity development assistance and other areas where possible."