The World Bank released a statement on Wednesday. It will provide $30 billion to help ease the food crisis threatened by Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has suspended almost all grain exports from the two countries. It added that $12 billion would be given to new projects and over $18 billion from current food and nutrition-related projects that have been approved but have not yet been donated.
World Bank Group President David Malpass said the increasing food prices are ruining the impoverished and the vulnerable. He added it is important for countries to state clearly the future output increase to inform and stabilize food markets.
The new projects are considered assisting agriculture, act as a shield against the effects of higher prices on the poor, and aid water and irrigation projects. Most of the resources will be going to Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia, as these areas have suffered the harsh effects of the war in Ukraine on food supplies.
Countries such as Egypt hugely depend on wheat from Ukraine and Russia and are struggling for supplies, as Russia has sealed off Ukraine’s agricultural exports from the ports of the Black Sea and has imposed limitations on domestic export.
