LONDON: Volatile oil prices after six months of conflict in the Middle East have raised the cost of delivering humanitarian aid worldwide, putting lifesaving assistance for almost 1.5 million children at risk, Save the Children said on Thursday.
Crude oil prices surged at the onset of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February as oil and gas supplies moving through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted.
Oil had been projected to average about $60 a barrel in 2026 before the fighting began, but rose as high as $126 by the end of April. It is now trading at about $90 a barrel, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Save the Children said it modeled the effect of higher oil prices on commodities, supplies and logistics spending since the start of the conflict. The organization estimated that aid-delivery costs had risen by about $13 million — money that otherwise could have provided assistance to almost 1.5 million children.
“The conflict in the Middle East is not only putting children at risk in the region, but also globally because every spike in fuel prices drives up the cost of every truck, every shipment, every box of supplies we deliver around the world,” Willem Zuidema, Save the Children’s global supply chain director, said in a statement.
