The gathering economic storm
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 663 Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One condition of the US and Israel’s two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran is that ships must be able to safely use the Strait of Hormuz, the route through which approximately 20% of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas supplies travel.
In theory, the deal should cut the prices of fuel worldwide, as well as allowing essential supplies of fertiliser, helium and other goods to reach businesses. But the fragility of the ceasefire is leaving markets uncertain, and prices remain volatile.
Will the ceasefire eventually help lower costs? And if so, when? Sean Farrington, presenter of the BBC’s Wake Up To Money, joins us to explain.
For our explainer on the conflict in Lebanon, listen back to our episode from March 19th: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct71b5.
Producers: Hannah Moore, Aron Keller and Cat Farnsworth
Executive Producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | This deadline that President Trump has set, 8 p.m., has threatened to destroy a civilization. |
| 0:13.0 | How does an investor process that? Is it a bigger upside risk or downside risk? |
| 0:18.2 | You might have seen this clip on socials. It's from the US financial network CNBC. |
| 0:23.7 | Is it a bigger upside risk or downside risk? Is a threat to destroy a civilization, an upside or a |
| 0:30.1 | downside risk for an investor? At its most crass, economic coverage of a war can sound a bit like that clip. |
| 0:39.8 | The war in Iran and Lebanon is a human tragedy. |
| 0:43.5 | It can be uncomfortable to talk about its economic effects on the rest of us. |
| 0:48.2 | It's the people who are being bombed who are suffering the most. |
| 0:52.5 | Nevertheless, war has far-reaching global consequences, |
| 0:56.8 | and the economic shockwaves are hitting us all. |
| 1:00.4 | And that's what we'll focus on in this episode. |
| 1:04.3 | For the BBC, I'm Tristan Redmond in London, |
| 1:07.7 | and today on the global story, |
| 1:09.7 | whether the ceasefire holds or not, are we only |
| 1:12.9 | seeing the beginning of the economic effects of this war? |
| 1:22.9 | Okay, well, I'm very pleased to say that we're joined today by Sean Farrington, who's the |
| 1:29.4 | presenter of the BBC's Wake Up to Money program. And if you're watching this on YouTube, |
| 1:36.8 | you may be experiencing something of a doppelganger situation. Tristan Redman is the one |
| 1:43.5 | wearing the headphones, and Sean Farrington is the man |
| 1:47.2 | wearing the earbuds. It's great to have you with, Sean. Thank you for having me. I'm a little |
| 1:52.9 | further down the fashion trends, I think, than you are. But I'll get there one day, Tristan. |
... |
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