Trans-regional consequences of the Ukraine crisis

Relief agencies warn of a "wave effect" as wheat prices rise in countries currently facing inflation, food insecurity and conflict.

According to the Guardian, concerns are growing across the Middle East and North Africa that the war in Ukraine will push up the prices of the dominant powers, make it difficult to find wheat stocks, and potentially provoke unrest in the region. Is. Russia and Ukraine account for a quarter of the world's wheat exports, while a country like Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat.

Russian invasion has pushed prices most high in recent 14-years. Even though the Tunisian government controls the price of bread, people are afraid that they will inevitably feel the pressure of this crisis.

Nearly half of Tunisia's wheat imports come from Ukraine, and it is highly vulnerable to such aftershocks, given its fragile economy, which has been hit by rising inflation and unemployment in recent years and faced with large amounts of public debt. But it is not the only country in the Middle East and North Africa that will face problems in the event of a long-term disruption in the supply chain and rising prices.

Yemen, which has been ravaged by war since 2014, imports almost all of its wheat, more than a third of which comes from Russia and Ukraine. The country is heavily dependent on bread for food; Power is thought to make up more than half of an average household's caloric intake.

Lebanon, a country in an economic crisis with unprecedented inflation, usually imports more than half of its wheat from Ukraine. Last Friday, the country's Minister of Economy and Trade, Amin Salam, reported that the country had enough wheat for only "a month or a month and a half".

In areas with a long history of political and social unrest resulting from deteriorating economic conditions, especially rising food prices, the risks are obvious. Atifa said the global outlook is worrying.

 

_{Source and Credit: Guardian}