WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said she was deeply concerned about the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on global food prices and supply, noting that over 275 million people worldwide were facing acute food insecurity.
Yellen said she would convene other leaders during next week’s Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to discuss possible solutions to help the poorest, who spend a larger share of their income on food.
Multilateral development banks were providing financing to strengthen domestic food production, bolster social safety nets, and unlock trade finance, but also needed to make longer-term investments to address the underlying vulnerabilities in food systems, she said, without providing any details.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” has sent commodity prices sharply higher, adding to global inflationary pressures and posing threats to energy and food security, trade flows, and external balances across many countries, Yellen said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
