Half of the money will go to Africa to help some countries to cope with food shortages and fight food insecurity on the continent.
The Washington-based Bank, in its response, said that local food prices are still high globally, especially in low and middle-income countries.
It said due to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, trade policies by countries have soared, affecting global food prices.
According to the Bank, $30 billion in relief packages, spread over 15 months, plus $12 billion in new projects, will support countries coping with food insecurity.
It is projected that about 205 million people may face severe food insecurity and require urgent assistance in 45 countries, the bank stated.
IMF said: “The most recent Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulletin released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation revealed mixed trends for international cereal prices in January 2023.
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“Overall, FAO’s analysis indicates that high prices have persisted for the past three months despite some evidence of easing from 2022 peaks in certain countries, with rice price hikes mostly responsible for sustained high cereal prices.”
The World Bank has collaborated with the G7 Presidency and convened the Global Alliance for Food Security to escalate the immediate response to the global hunger problem.
The alliance had forged the accessible Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard, providing punctual data for food and local decision-makers to help enhance policy coordination and financial response to the food problem.
Recall that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that prices of food items such as rice, yam, and beans saw increases in January 2023.
The NBS said this in its recently released Selected Food Prices Watch Report for January 2023.
According to the report, the average price of 1kg beef on year-on-year bases went up by 29.72 per cent from N1,864.70 in January 2022 to N2,418.91 in January 2023.
