'Sword of Damocles' hangs over global economy, UN says

UNITED NATIONS－The United Nations chief warned on Monday that the conflict in Ukraine is holding a "sword of Damocles" over the global economy, especially poor developing countries that face skyrocketing food, fuel and fertilizer prices and are now seeing their breadbasket "being bombed".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that "Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world's supply of sunflower oil and about 30 percent of the world's wheat" and that "grain prices have already exceeded those at the start of the 'Arab Spring' and the food riots of 2007-2008".

He told reporters that 45 African and least developed countries import at least one-third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and 18 of them import at least 50 percent. These countries include Egypt, Congo, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

"All of this is hitting the poorest, the hardest, and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe," Guterres warned, saying that the most vulnerable country had already been trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and contend with record inflation, rising interest rates and looming debt before the Ukraine conflict.

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, told The Associated Press during a visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv that 50 percent of the grain that the agency buys to feed "the 125 million people we reach on any given day, week or month" comes from Ukraine, as does 20 percent of the world's supply of corn.

"So (the conflict) is going to have a dynamic global catastrophic impact," Beasley said.

Guterres reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and serious negotiations toward peace. "Ukraine is on fire," he said, adding that "the impact on civilians is reaching terrifying proportions".

He announced an additional $40 million from the UN's emergency fund to move critical supplies of food, water and medicine into Ukraine, where at least 1.9 million people are displaced. More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine to other countries.

UN humanitarian staff reported that trapped civilians in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol face life-threatening shortages of food, water, medicine and other basic necessities, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The UN has reached 600,000 people in Ukraine with some form of humanitarian assistance, he said, but the UN's flash appeal for $1.1 billion to assist 6 million people inside Ukraine for an initial three months has received only $219 million so far, just 19 percent.

Agencies Via Xinhua