The International Monetary Fund has warned that while low-income developing countries were dealing with the disproportionate impacts of the Iran war-fuelled energy shock, many had “no choice” but to cut spending or potentially face debt restructuring, AFP reports.

Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the organisation’s Annual Meetings in Bangkok, IMF deputy director of research Petya Koeva Brooks said heavily indebted, oil-importing countries were facing the worst of the energy shock, and had difficult choices in helping their citizens through the crisis.

“Unfortunately, after years of the global economy being hit (by) shock after shock, debt levels have increased quite a lot, and at the same time, inflation has become a problem,” she said.

The US war on Iran has plunged the Middle East into conflict and sent global energy prices soaring, as Tehran’s retaliatory action targeted Washington’s Gulf allies and curtailed oil and gas supplies.

Those prices have begun to bleed into other goods, with the crisis also having an effect on crucial fertiliser supplies.