![]() We have the capacity to cushion the blow. We need to act now.Īnd that leads to the second point clearly demonstrated by this report: we can do something about this three-dimensional crisis. The report also shows that there is a direct correlation between rising food prices and social and political instability. This is setting in motion a potential vicious circle of inflation and stagnation – the so-called stagflation. Many developing economies are drowning in debt, with bond yields already on the rise since last September, leading now to increased risk premiums and exchange rate pressures. Inflation is rising, purchasing power is eroding, growth prospects are shrinking, and development is being stalled and in some cases, gains are receding. The same goes for natural gas prices, which have risen by 50 per cent in recent months.Īnd fertilizer prices have more than doubled.Īs prices climb, so does hunger and malnutrition - especially for young children. Oil prices are up more than 60 per cent over the past year, accelerating the prevailing trends. ![]() Wheat and maize prices have been very volatile since the war began, but are still 30 per cent higher just since the start of the year.Īt the same time, Russia is a top energy supplier. Prices were already on the rise - but the war has made a bad situation far worse. Thirty-six countries count on Russia and Ukraine for more than half of their wheat imports - including some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries of the world. Grynspan will go through the recommendations.īut I want to highlight two overarching points made crystal clear in this report.įirst, the impact of the war is global and systemic.Īs many as 1.7 billion people - one-third of whom are already living in poverty - are now highly exposed to disruptions in food, energy and finance systems that are triggering increases in poverty and hunger. I am joined by the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Rebeca Grynspan, who coordinates the Task Team, and by the Deputy Secretary-General, who presides over the Steering Committee. Today, we are launching the Task Team’s first Report. That is why, in the earliest days of this war, I established the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance, facilitated by a Task Team in the UN Secretariat, reporting to a Steering Committee involving all UN agencies and international financial institutions. We are now facing a perfect storm that threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries. The war is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis - food, energy and finance - that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, countries and economies.Īnd all this comes at a time when developing countries are already struggling with a slate of challenges not of their making - the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to adequate resources to finance the recovery in the context of persistent and growing inequalities. Now, since the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s attention has been focused on the war’s terrifying levels of death, destruction and suffering.įrom the start, the United Nations has been actively engaged in delivering humanitarian support to the people in Ukraine, the people who are paying the highest price, and to the host countries of the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.īut less attention has been paid to the global impact of the war in all its dimensions in a world that was already witnessing increased poverty, hunger and social unrest.
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