IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has warned of inflation risks from the Middle East conflict, saying a 10 per cent increase in oil prices, if persistent through most of the year, would result in a 40-basis-point increase in global inflation, Reuters reports.

“We are seeing resilience tested again by the new conflict in the Middle East,” Georgieva said, speaking in a symposium hosted by Japan’s finance ministry.

“My advice to policymakers in this new global environment is to think of the unthinkable and prepare for it,” she said.