Ukraine: Poor countries are seeing their breadbasket being ‘bombed’, says UN chief

The United Nations chief Antonio Guterres cautioned against the implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine and said that it is going to hit the poorest hardest.

The Russian war on Ukraine is holding "a sword of Damocles" over the global economy, the UN Secretary-General said, adding that especially poor developing countries face skyrocketing food, fuel and fertiliser prices and are now seeing their breadbasket "being bombed."

READ MORE

Loud explosions heard in centre of Ukraine capital Kyiv

Talks to resume as Russian strikes widen in western Ukraine

Russia and Ukraine account for more than half of the world’s supply of sunflower oil and about 30 per cent of the world’s wheat," he said, adding that "grain prices have already exceeded those at the start of the Arab Spring and the food riots of 2007-2008."

At least 45 African and least developed countries like Egypt, Congo, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen import one-third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and 18 of them import at least 50%.

Guterres warned: "All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe.”

The Independent