The heads of the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) say it is important that the anti-Russian sanctions are lifted or at least eased. This would help avoid a global food crisis.
Moscow would give a helping hand in exchange for the lifting of restrictive measures only. Yet, the world community is not ready to agree on that. Nevertheless, the World Bank advocates for the idea. “The COVID-19 pandemic, the disruption of international supply chains and the war in Ukraine have severely disrupted interconnected food, fuel and fertilizer markets. As of June 2022, the number of people facing acute food insecurity — whose short-term access to food is so limited that their lives and livelihoods are at risk — has risen to 345 million in 82 countries, according to the WFP,” the World Bank said in a statement on its website.
It would help deal with the food shortage if the West removed punitive anti-Russian restrictions and more flexible supply processes were developed. According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, sanctions imposed on Russia will not be lifted until Moscow reaches an agreement with Kyiv.
