70% of Africa’s economies at risk of Russia-Ukraine war, UN says
A new report by the United Nations report has found that more than 70% of Africa’s economies are at severe risk from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The report, which calls for immediate and efficient use of all existing mechanisms to help countries directly suffering from the war and its consequences, found that 41 African countries face maximum exposure to at least one emergency caused by the war.
In the report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “The war is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis – food, energy and finance – that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, countries and economies.”
According to him, African countries are among the most vulnerable to the looming crisis. As a result, action plans recommended by the Global Crisis Response Group target Africa particularly, Guterres said.
Globally, food and fertiliser prices have risen sharply, with increasing risks of global instability, given that Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s breadbaskets. In this regard, Guterres noted that the African Development Bank is one of several international organisations considering a plan to boost food production in Africa and avert a heavy toll on the African continent.
Read: Review the Mining Act 2006 and ensure compliance of the laws – NRGI tells gov’t
African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina said the bank’s plan could help 40 million farmers increase their harvests of heat-tolerant wheat varieties, rice, soybean and other crops to feed about 200 million people.
“If ever there was a time to drastically raise food production in Africa, it is now,” the Bank Group president said.
The World Bank recently projected that the number of poor people in Sub-Saharan African countries would hit 463.6 million in 2022 due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Using a graph, the World Bank showed that the baseline projection for poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa is 460.4 million, while the pessimistic projection is N463.6 million in 2022.
According to the World Bank report, “if the more pessimistic scenario plays out, 2022 could be the second-worst year in terms of the progress made in reducing extreme poverty this century—behind only 2020, when there was an actual increase in global poverty.”
Compared to pre-pandemic projections, the report concludes that the combined crises will lead to an additional 75 million to 95 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022.
