Russian war in Ukraine The United Nations has already hit the world economy dramatically, increasing the risk of harm to the world’s population, especially the vast population of developing countries, the United Nations warned Wednesday.
The crisis has created the “worst case” of turmoil in the world’s food, energy and financial markets, which “could adversely affect the lives of billions of people around the world.” Said in a new report..
According to the report, these systems were already under heavy burden due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other historical challenges.
However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has greatly exacerbated the region’s importance as a major commodity exporter and the impact of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, which has upset the balance of the global market.
Russia and Ukraine, for example, produce about 30% of the earth’s wheat and barley, providing most of the wheat purchased by 36 countries. This list includes some of the poorest countries on the planet.
Russia was also the world’s largest exporter of natural gas and the second largest exporter of oil before the invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Belarus also export about one-fifth of the world’s fertilizers.
As a result of the war, food prices are at the highest level ever recorded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, up 34% from this time last year, according to the report.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices have risen 60% year-on-year, and fertilizer prices have more than doubled.
“The effects of war are global and systematic,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a briefing in the report.
As many as 1.7 billion people are “extremely exposed” to the chained impact of the Russian war on the world’s food, energy and financial systems, Guterres said. “Of these 1.7 billion people, 555 million are already poor and 215 million are already undernourished,” a UN report said.
The multi-layered crisis “is on the verge of a global debt crisis,” the report said. It quoted a recent UN study that estimates that war will reduce the world economy by 1 percentage point of GDP growth.
“Inflation is rising, purchasing power is declining, overall outlook is shrinking, development is stagnant, and profits are declining in some cases. Many developing countries have already seen increased bond trading since September last year. I’m drowning in debt because I’m doing it. Exchange rate pressure. “
“And this is causing a potential vicious cycle of inflation and stagnation, the so-called stagflation,” he added.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed many of the same concerns Wednesday morning when her department said it would pay attention to the risks of rising global hunger.
“The fact that energy supplies are declining and energy prices are rising, the fact that Ukraine and Russia provide more than 20% of the world’s food exports, and the fact that wheat and corn prices are skyrocketing,” Yelen said. Said at a meeting with the Atlantic Council. The Washington-based think tank focuses on international affairs.
Yellen blamed the combination of pandemics, supply chain disruptions, intense demand for goods, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine against continued rising food prices.
One of the main causes behind soaring food prices is the global fertilizer shortage. Russia and Belarus provide about 40% of the world’s exports of potassium, a potassium-rich salt essential for much of the world’s fertilizer and agricultural production.
However, Cali is now subject to economic sanctions on the United States and its allies as the Biden administration seeks to isolate Moscow from the global market.
Morgan Stanley estimates that Russia also exported 11% of the world’s urea and 48% of the other two major fertilizer components, ammonium nitrate.
“We are worried about the prospect of a recession, especially in Europe, which is the most vulnerable,” Yellen added. “This is an urgent concern next week trying to figure out how we can stop hunger around the world. It’s a really serious concern.”
Yeren will discuss the worsening food security crisis next week in a meeting with representatives of the G7, G20, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
