IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on Thursday that the Hormuz closure is causing physical supply chain breakdowns beyond oil and gas, citing emerging shortages of naphtha and helium that will intensify even if the conflict ends soon. She urged governments to introduce energy-saving measures — including free public transport, expanded work-from-home policies and shifts away from energy-intensive activities — as the Spring Meetings entered their third day in Washington.
“Yes, we are concerned about the physical breakdown in supply chains,” Georgieva told reporters. She said shortages are already showing up in several countries, particularly across Asia, where economies are heavily dependent on imports through the Strait. Naphtha is a petrochemical feedstock critical for plastics and fertilizers, while helium is used in medical imaging and semiconductor manufacturing.
Georgieva said global shipping dynamics mean recovery will be slow. Oil tankers, she noted, are “slow-moving vessels” that can take up to 40 days to reach distant destinations such as Fiji, so the effects of the disruption will continue to build in the coming weeks. “What we have is a 20th-century type of shock, slow-moving shock in the 21st century,” she said.
The IMF chief pointed to jet fuel as an example of how integrated markets can seize up even in well-supplied economies, noting that South Korea — both a major energy importer and a large jet fuel exporter — is struggling to replace supplies as regional flows reroute around the Gulf.
Georgieva said governments should revisit energy-saving playbooks used during the Covid-19 pandemic, including making public transport free and encouraging work-from-home, and argued there is “no reason not to expand them now.”
The IMF guidance lands as Sri Lanka’s cabinet this week declared April 16 and 17 work-from-home days for public sector staff to conserve fuel and electricity amid CPC rationing and the QR code system. Naphtha shortages also have direct implications for Sri Lanka’s fertilizer supply chain and the idled Sapugaskanda refinery.
