Francis Ajuonuma with agency reports
The director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned that the food crisis prompted by the war in Ukraine is a “real worry” which could persist into next year and perhaps longer.
Okonjo-Iweala made the declaration at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The WTO boss hinged her forecast on the fact that the economy of Ukraine, a major exporter of fertiliser has been affected by the ongoing which had led to shortage of fertilizer supply in the international market.
“If countries can’t get fertiliser (of which Ukraine is a big supplier) then yields will be low,” she said.
The former Nigerian finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy urged countries not to make a bad situation worse by imposing export bans, but rather put their surpluses on the international market.
“African countries should be supported to increase their own food production”, she added.
India is one of the countries that has imposed an export ban, but its trade minister, Piyush Goyal defended the decision.
“In the past two years, India had exported its wheat surplus, but it had been hit by a hugely damaging drought this year that had cut production. Without the ban India’s own food security would have been put at risk”, Goyal explained.
Also speaking at a press conference on policy outlook for Trade and Food Okonjo-Iweala emphasised that trade remains part of the solution to the simultaneous crises gripping the world.
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“The world faces the security crisis, the pandemic, the climate crisis, food crisis, all at the same time.
They have one thing in common — one country can’t solve them but needs a multinational approach.
She explained that the WTO recently revised its projections for trade growth this year from 4.7 per cent to 3 per cent.
“There are lots of uncertainties – many on the downside. There are lots of downside risks. If you don’t have trade, you can’t move food to where it is needed,” she points out.
