Food crisis is tragic legacy of Ukraine war

BLACKROCK founder Larry Fink warned recently that the significant spikes in oil and mineral prices since the start of the Ukraine conflict have distracted from the more dangerous impact of food inflation and a looming hunger catastrophe across the world.

This topic was also a key one at last week’s G20 finance meeting in Indonesia. United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at that summit that the world is facing “an extremely difficult time for global food security” and urged the group to halt stockpiling, lift export restrictions on food, and provide additional financial assistance to countries and people struggling with food insecurity.

While Turkey, the United Nations (UN), Ukraine and Russia may be on the verge of finalising an agreement to open Black Sea shipping ports that have been closed since Moscow’s invasion, that cannot be taken for granted. Moreover, much damage has been done in the nearly 150 days that the conflict has already lasted.