WASHINGTON (Realist English). US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with ministers from the globe’s industrial nations to address a growing food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, CNBC reports.
Yellen and her deputy, Wally Adeyemo, are set for a packed agenda across seven days of high-level economic meetings that kicks off Monday in Washington with leaders of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Group of Seven and Group of 20 largest economies.
Yellen will also hold a closed-door meeting with the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmygal.
The parties are planning to discuss the Biden administration’s support for Kiev and efforts to contain the Russian economy. The U.N. memo also noted that Russia and Ukraine produce about 30% of the Earth’s wheat and barley and provide the majority of the wheat bought by 36 countries. Many of those include some of the poorest nations on Earth, the report said.
Meanwhile, the cost of crude oil has increased by 60% compared to last year, and fertilizer prices have more than doubled.
Thanks to the war and supply-chain pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, food prices are at the highest levels ever recorded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, up 34% from this time last year.
According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 1.7 billion people are “highly exposed” to the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the food, energy and financial systems. The UN report clarifies that “of these 1.7 billion people, 553 million are poor, and 215 million are malnourished.”
