“Unlike low-income countries, they were rich enough to offer social protection during the pandemic, but now struggle to maintain high social spending that is vital to the living standards of large sections of their populations,” the report said.Īrgentina, Tunisia, Pakistan and the Philippines, highly dependent on food and energy imports, were among many other middle- or lower-middle-income countries facing an elevated risk of civil unrest by the end of 2022, it suggested.Ī student protest march in Sri Lanka on Thursday. Many governments had exhausted their financial and material reserves fighting Covid and incurred large debts. Middle-income countries, such as Egypt and Brazil, are exceptionally poorly placed to cope with increased food insecurity, international risk consultants Verisk Maplecroft said in a report last week. Russia’s war has compounded or accelerated pre-existing food deficits and inflationary trends arising from a host of linked factors: the negative economic impact of the pandemic resulting supply-chain, employment and transport problems extreme weather and climate-crisis-related falls in output spiralling energy costs and numerous other ongoing conflicts worldwide. In March, global commodity prices, recorded by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, hit an all-time high. Ukraine’s wheat production this year is likely to be 35% down, and exporting much of it may be impossible due to Russia’s Black Sea blockade. The adverse impact of Russia’s invasion on the availability and price of staples such as wheat, maize, barley and sunflower oil – Ukraine and Russia normally produce about 30% of global wheat exports – has been huge. Food distribution outside a Kabul bakery at the end of last year.
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