In May 2022, the World Bank committed to making $30 billion accessible over a 15-month period to address the problem. The World Bank has increased its food and nutrition security response to $45 billion, which includes $22 billion in new financing and $23 billion from current portfolio.
Significant trade disruptions have occurred in global food and agricultural markets.
According to the latest Global Report by World Bank on Food Crises 2023 Mid-Year Update, 238 million people in 48 countries face severe food and nutrition insecurity. Since 2022, nine nations have witnessed an upsurge in acute food insecurity. Sudan was particularly hard hit, with a surge of 8.6 million people (74%) experiencing severe food insecurity. Burundi and Somalia both had a one-million-person rise, raising the acutely food insecure population by 65% and 18%, respectively. Conflict, economic issues, and climate-induced weather extremes are three key drivers of food insecurity in 2023.
According to food inflation data between May and August 2023, many low- and middle-income countries experienced high inflation, with inflation exceeding 5% in 52.6% of low-income countries, 86.4% of lower-middle-income countries, and 64% of upper-middle-income countries, with many experiencing double-digit inflation. Furthermore, 69.6% of high-income nations have substantial food price inflation. Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia are the most affected. Food price inflation outpaced overall inflation (as measured by the year-on-year change in the overall consumer price index) in 79.4% of the 165 countries for which food CPI and overall CPI indexes are available.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, between 691 million and 783 million people would be hungry globally in 2022, virtually reversing progress achieved since 2015. Furthermore, food insecurity increased from 25.3% in 2019 to 29.6% in 2022, with 11.3% of the world population suffering from extreme food insecurity. This equates to 180 million more people experiencing extreme food insecurity than in 2019. Globally, 27.8% of women and 25.4% of men suffered moderate or severe food insecurity in 2022. Despite a minor decrease of the worldwide gender gap in food insecurity, the picture remains bleak.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries’ trade policies restrictions have increased. The global food crisis has been exacerbated in part by the rising number of food trade restrictions imposed by governments in order to increase local supply and lower costs. As of September 25, 2023, 19 nations had enacted 25 food export bans, while 7 had enacted 12 export-restrictive restrictions.
In May 2022, the World Bank committed to making $30 billion accessible over a 15-month period to address the problem. The World Bank has increased its food and nutrition security response to $45 billion, which includes $22 billion in new financing and $23 billion from current portfolio.
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