Why are global food prices so high? Russia to blame, not sanctions, says NATO chief
Global News
The International Monetary Fund last month cut its global growth forecast for 2023 amid colliding pressures from the war, high energy and food prices.
Soaring food prices around the world are being triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine, not the economic sanctions that have come with it, NATO’s secretary general says.
Jens Stoltenberg made those comments to reporters in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday, one day after Russia rejoined a United Nations-and-Turkey-brokered deal to keep grain and other commodities moving out of Ukraine’s ports.
“The increased prices and problems we have seen in the global food market is not caused by sanctions, it is caused by the war itself,” he said alongside Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
“The best way of ending this is for (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin to end the war.”
Worries of an international food shortage were eased on Wednesday when Moscow rejoined the grain deal after announcing a few days prior it was suspending its participation in it. With global markets tight, experts worried food prices would rise further if the deal was suspended, and poorer countries would have to pay more to import grain.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during the war.
But the conflict, which started on Feb. 24, has thrown global economies off balance. The International Monetary Fund last month cut its global growth forecast for 2023 amid colliding pressures from the war, high energy and food prices, inflation and sharply higher interest rates.
Western nations aligning with Ukraine have imposed punishing economic sanctions on Russia in an effort to slow Moscow’s war machine.
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