Steph Deschamps / July 7, 2022
Soaring food and energy prices around the world have pushed 71 million people in low-income countries into poverty since March in just three months, according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released on Thursday, July 7. This acceleration of poverty is considerably faster than the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, notes the UNDP in a statement, which partly blames the war in Ukraine for the surge in prices, which Russia denies.
According to the UN program, targeted cash transfers to households are more equitable and cost-effective than general energy subsidies. At the same time, UNDP considers that the countries concerned will need support from the multilateral system to make ends meet. As interest rates rise in response to soaring inflation, there is a risk of triggering new recession-induced poverty that will further exacerbate the crisis, accelerating and deepening global poverty, UNDP also warns in its report.
The document looked at 159 countries. The states in the most critical situation are in the Balkans, the Caspian Sea region and sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Sahel. Unprecedented price hikes mean that for many people around the world, the food they could afford yesterday is no longer accessible today, laments UNDP head Achim Steiner in the statement.
This cost of living crisis is pushing millions of people into poverty with the risk of famine at a breathtaking rate. At the same time, the threat of increased social unrest is growing by the day, he said. Among the countries facing the most dramatic consequences of rising prices are Armenia, Uzbekistan, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Haiti, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Yemen.