Hamburg, Germany, 29th June, 2026 — Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, has urged a fundamental overhaul of the international financial system, calling for the creation of a Global South Shock Absorption Facility to help vulnerable economies withstand geopolitical and supply chain disruptions before they spiral into full‑blown crises.
Speaking at the high‑level panel “Navigating the Hormuz Crisis: Forging a Collective Response” during the Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2026, Dr. Jalloh argued that existing global financing mechanisms are too slow and rigid to shield developing nations from external shocks.
Addressing senior policymakers, development finance leaders, and representatives of international institutions, he warned that the consequences of geopolitical conflicts fall disproportionately on low‑income countries. “For the Global South, an oil shock is never just an oil shock. It becomes a food shock, a fiscal shock, and ultimately a human development shock,” he said, stressing that rising fuel, food, fertiliser, and transport costs quickly erode national budgets and undermine development gains across Africa and other regions.
The Vice President called on the international community to move beyond reactive crisis management and instead invest in long‑term resilience by strengthening food and energy security while reforming global financial systems to respond at the speed of modern crises. He urged institutions such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank to design pre‑arranged financing instruments that would allow countries to absorb external shocks before they escalate into humanitarian and fiscal emergencies.
“We must shift from financing recovery after crises to financing resilience before they occur,” Dr. Jalloh emphasized, arguing that resilient financing should become a central pillar of sustainable development.
His proposal was presented alongside global leaders, including United Nations Deputy Secretary‑General Amina J. Mohammed, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Reem Alabali‑Radovan, UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo, UK Minister of State for International Development and Africa Baroness Jennifer Chapman, and African Development Bank President Dr. Sidi Ould Tah.
The call adds to growing African demands for a more equitable and responsive global financial system capable of protecting developing economies from increasingly interconnected global shocks.
