The Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is in a “critical” position with food and fuel as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to unfold, World Bank Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships Mari Pangestu told Al Arabiya TV channel.
“Our forecast team has been estimating that if we see high food and fuel prices last for six months to a year,” she said, “it could negatively impact growth.”
In the global context, “availability and affordability” of food is the UN-backed organization’s concern, according to Pangestu. However, she said that unlike the global food crisis in 2008, the World Bank official clarified that “we actually don’t have a shortage of production.”
“There’s sufficient production of… wheat, rice or other grain products,” she said.
She also said that the food issue goes beyond the Ukraine war.
“Food security and price drops are something that’s not going to go away even after we have resolved the current situation,” Pangestu said.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Medi 1 that Russia’s war in Ukraine is affecting food supplies and energy prices around the world.
© 2016-2025, Open4Business. All rights reserved.
All news and diagrams placed on this Web site is made for internal use. Its reproduction or distribution in any form are welcome in case of placing a direct hyperlink to a source. Reproduction or distribution of information which contains Interfax-Ukraine as a source is prohibited without the written permission from the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Photoes placed on this site are taken from open sources only; rightholder are welcome to make demands to info@open4business.com.ua , in this case we are ready to put your copyright to a photo or replace it.