The World Bank announced on Wednesday that it would spend $12 billion over the next 15 months on new projects to address the global food crisis, which has been aggravated by the war in Ukraine.
The majority of the resources will go to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central and South Asia, the institution said in a statement, adding that this should support their agriculture, ” social protection to cushion the effects of rising food prices”, and promote water supply and irrigation projects.
The World Bank also points out that it has 18.7 billion unused dollars which will also be able to be devoted to projects directly linked to food and nutritional security problems.
“In total, this represents more than 30 billion dollars available for the implementation of the fight once morest food insecurity over the next 15 months,” noted the World Bank.
“Rising food prices are having devastating effects on the poorest and most vulnerable,” World Bank President David Malpass said in the statement.
“To inform and stabilize markets, it is essential that countries make clear statements now on future production increases in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
It recommends that countries make “concerted efforts” not only to increase energy and fertilizer supplies, help farmers increase plantings and crop yields, but also to “remove policies that block exports and imports (…) or encourage unnecessary storage”.
