Ukraine War and Pandemic Drive High Food Prices and Inflation

The IMF releases its flagship World Economic Outlook report. Faced with the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, the IMF forecasts lower global growth.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitored IMF meetings since 2010, releases the following statement on the IMF Meetings and World Economic Outlook Report:

"The Ukraine war is causing high food prices and global inflation.

"Before the war in Ukraine, most countries were still struggling with health and economic crises spurred by the pandemic.

"The pandemic and Ukraine war are significantly hurting poor people who live in the poorest countries.

“Lagging vaccinations in the poorest countries means virus mutations remain a risk to the global economic outlook."

"Beyond the Ukraine war and the pandemic, we have unsustainable debts and shocks from climate change that make the current situation impossible for many developing countries.

"The IMF is right that a solution to the multiple crises should include peace in Ukraine, solving debt crises, aid to countries in need and addressing climate change."

Read the full World Economic Outlook Report here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on Secretary Yellen's speech to the Atlantic Council here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the creation of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain raiser speech here. 

Read Eric LeCompte's piece for Barron's on Ukraine here.