WTO chief warns of food price rise

WASHINGTON: WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned about the “economic impacts” of the war in Ukraine, a major wheat exporter, which will hurt consumers around the world.

“There’s going to be a big impact with respect to wheat prices and prices of bread for ordinary people as well,” she said at a virtual event with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

Ngozi noted that Ukraine “is one of the largest wheat exporters of the world.”

Georgieva echoed her previous warnings about the “significant economic risk” of the conflict for the global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, saying “the impact is going to go beyond Ukraine.”

She highlighted the added pressure on inflation which is likely to accelerate amid rising prices for energy and wheat.

Oil prices on Thursday briefly topped $100 for the first time since 2014.

The United States and Europe slapped sanctions on Moscow, targeting the financial sector but largely sparing the oil and agriculture sectors for now in an effort to mitigate the impact on their own people.

The sanctions “add to the economic impact of this crisis, and will transmit primarily through energy prices, as well as grain prices, adding to what has been a growing concern of inflation and how it can be countered,” the IMF chief said.

The conflict adds to the “high uncertainty” about the global economy that also is reflected in financial markets, and undermines confidence in other emerging markets causing an exodus of capital at a time when those countries need more funding.

“We see outflows from emerging markets when we need exactly the opposite,” she said.

Georgieva, who is Bulgarian, said she had a personal connection to the crisis, as her brother is married to a Ukrainian and they are in a city near the border with Russia.

“I know right now it’s so difficult to see a pathway to peace, but peace must be pursued and we must find a way to bring that peace that people are so desperate for.”