The Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the effects of climate change, according to the International Monetary Fund, are to blame for the 860 million people who are currently going hungry worldwide. The IMF also noted that the world is currently experiencing a food crisis akin to the one that occurred in 2007–2008, during which many countries experienced food shortages.
The Fund noted that the world has been experiencing a growing food crisis since 2018, which has caused a rise in the price of food commodities and an aggravation of food production and distribution. He noted that when the Russian-Ukrainian crisis increased pressure on the price of basic goods and fertilisers internationally, the situation worsened in 2022 and prices increased even further.
The nation that primarily imports food from Ukraine experienced the worst losses. The Fund confirmed that 48 low-income countries—the majority of which were in the Sahel region and sub-Saharan Africa—were the most severely affected by the crisis, either because their balance of payments were being severely strained by the high prices of food and fertiliser or because the World Food Program had designated them as having food insecurity.
The Fund suggested four ways to address the current global food crisis: first, encouraging humanitarian aid to vulnerable families; second, allowing food to travel freely between surplus and developing nations; third, having major producers immediately lift their ban on exporting food; fourth, enhancing food production and distribution; and fifth, making investments in climate-resilient agriculture.
The IMF urged the international community to step up and offer comprehensive aid, such as policy recommendations, capacity building, support for the most impacted nations, and debt relief to assist the poorest nations in allocating funds for food-related expenditures.
The Rescue Fund issues a warning about a worsening of the world food crisis and provides four alternatives.
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