Secretary Janet Yellen will hold a high-level meeting on Tuesday to discuss the global response to the food security crisis exacerbated by Russia's war on Ukraine, the US Treasury said in a statement.
The ministry added that the meeting will be attended by the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, in addition to ministers representing the countries of the Group of Seven and the Group of 20, and technical experts from international financial institutions.
The ministry said that the meeting will address "the urgent response to the ongoing global food security crisis exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine", and will call on international financial institutions to "accelerate and deepen their response."
"Secretary Yellen is deeply concerned about the effects of Russia's reckless war on the global economy, including the risk of growing food insecurity in emerging markets and developing countries around the world that are still struggling to recover from the pandemic," a senior Treasury official said.
Yellen announced plans for the meeting last week, noting that more than 275 million people around the world face acute food insecurity.
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations World Food Program called for urgent and coordinated actions on food security, and called on countries to avoid banning exports of food and agricultural fertilizers (fertilizers).
declining global growth
Meanwhile, World Bank President David Malpass announced today, Monday, the reduction of the bank's forecast for global growth for 2022 by a full percentage point, from 4.1% to 3.2%, due to the repercussions of the Russian war on Ukraine.
Malpass told reporters on a conference call that the World Bank is responding to additional economic pressures from the war with a proposal for emergency financing of $170 billion for 15 months, targeting pledges of about $50 billion of this funding over the next three months.
He said the biggest component of the bank's downgrade of growth forecast was a 4.1% contraction in Europe and Central Asia, which includes Ukraine, Russia and surrounding countries.
The outlook for many advanced and developing economies is also being lowered due to the sharp increase in food and energy prices caused by war-related supply disruptions.
The International Monetary Fund is expected to cut its global growth forecast on Tuesday.
Malpass added that the World Bank and the IMF will discuss new aid to Ukraine this week, and that he expects specific pledges from a number of donor countries.