US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to meet with world economic leaders over impending food shortage crisis

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her deputy are going to be meeting with a bunch of high-level officials – members of the G7, the G20 (including Russia) and the IMF – around the world this week to look at how to solve an impending food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat and fertilizer, and without this year’s exports, there are likely to be food shortages in some parts of the world.

Key comments:

“Secretary Yellen is deeply concerned about impacts that Russia’s reckless war are having on the global economy, including the risk rising food insecurity in emerging market and developing countries around the world, particularly as which are still struggling to recover from the pandemic,” a senior Treasury official told reporters Monday morning.

The crisis in Ukraine has caused a “perfect storm” of disruptions to global food, energy and financial markets that “threatens to negatively affect the lives of billions of people around the world,” the UN said in a report last week.