Amid war, IMF-World Bank confab juggles equal parts relief, dread

The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are being held in Bangkok this year against a backdrop of equal parts relief and dread.In her curtain-raising speech, IMF head Kristalina Georgieva said the global economy had navigated through serial shocks with “remarkable agility,” and that the meeting would focus on energy prices, high government debt, and the rise of AI. The relief comes from the resilience of the global economy in the face of a war in the Middle East that has continued far longer than was expected at the spring meetings held in Washington in April. The