A look into winners and losers of the war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine is still dominating news headlines worldwide while bulking countries into winners and losers.

Some countries – even if they are not directly implicated in the conflict- have been hugely affected by the war, either positively or negatively.

“Venezuela, Qatar, Algeria, Norway, and China have benefited from the war, while in the short term, the most dependent countries were losers; including Spain,” said a recent report issued by Spanish news outlet, El Mundo.

The war in Ukraine has paralyzed the ecological transition that Europe was pursuing and has put at risk the great emission reduction targets to which Europe had been committed. “For this reason, the EU countries try to speed up their green investments,” highlighted the report.

Global prices for oil, gas, and grains have risen after the war started in late February.

The report further stated that the main oil states’ suppliers “have seen their revenues multiplied, namely: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. Apart from the Gulf countries, Norway has multiplied its revenues by six in a few months.”

The new report argued that the United States, the world’s leading producer of natural gas, is “the biggest winner from the war, without any doubts,” as it benefited from the strong increase in the price of coal.

In addition, China appears to be a “great winner” of the war. “China will be the great beneficiary, since it has the largest solar energy production capacity in the world, with 253 GW of installed capacity at the end of 2020,” the report noted.

China will negotiate with Russia new ways to supply gas in the medium term, taking advantage of the breaking of contracts with Europe.

The report concluded that the top energy-producing countries (China, United States, Qatar, Venezuela, Algeria) are getting richer at the expense of the most dependent countries on foreign supplies, like Spain.

“Spain is trying to take advantage of the crisis to redouble its connections with Europe with an eye toward the development of green hydrogen,” concluded the report.