Global food prices rose 12.6% last month to record levels as the Russian invasion ravaged a major breadbasket of the world, exacerbating African countries’ pre-existing economic and debt troubles.
The impact is particularly dire for East Africa, where 13 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia face severe hunger, and West Africa, where the worst food crisis in a decade could leave 38 million suffering from hunger by June.
International institutions and national leaders are scrambling to find answers, with the 2011 Arab Spring protests that rocked the Middle East and North Africa high on everyone’s mind.
“The most troubling impact is of high food prices and food insecurity,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday. “To put it very simply, a war in Europe, in Ukraine, translates into hunger in Africa.”
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