The developing world could soon be faced with significant food shortages if Ukraine is unable to export crop products, according to the governor of the Bank of England.
Andrew Bailey was speaking to a House of Commons committee yesterday (Monday, May 16), where he addressed the issue of inflation in the UK and further afield.
Addressing the issue of food price inflation specifically, Bailey said: “This is a big concern.”
He referenced recent remarks from the finance minister of Ukraine, who, according to Bailey, said that Ukraine “does have food in store, but can’t get it out”.
“While [the Ukrainian minister] was pretty optimistic about crop planting, he said they have no way of shipping it out at the moment as things stand, and it’s getting worse,” Bailey told MPs.
He added: “That is a major worry, and it’s not just a major worry, I have to tell you, for this country [the UK]; it is a major worry for the developing world as well.
“Sorry for being apocalyptic, but that’s a major concern,” the Bank of England chief warned.
He noted that Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat and cooking oils.
Further afield
On Sunday just gone (May 15) the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) of the Republic of Ireland, Micheál Martin, also touched on this issue during an annual Famine Commemoration Ceremony.
He said: “In Somalia alone, six million people are again affected by food insecurity only 10 years after 250,000 people, many of them children, died from hunger.”
