Hormuz tensions push Asia's fuel costs up 40%, squeezing small business

The February strikes on Iran triggered a supply shock through one of the world's critical energy chokepoints, the Strait of Hormuz, with immediate ripple effects across Asia's fuel-dependent economies. Cambodia, which lacks domestic energy reserves, absorbed the full impact: a 40% surge in gasoline prices forced households and small enterprises to make hard trade-offs. While a short-lived ceasefire has allowed prices to ease slightly, the underlying vulnerability persists—transport and operating costs remain elevated, and small business owners continue to absorb losses that cascade into job cuts and reduced access to services like education. The region's energy insecurity is not a temporary shock but a structural exposure: any renewed conflict threatens another round of price spikes that poorer households and micro-enterprises cannot weather without permanent economic contraction.