Rising commodities prices driven by the Russia-Ukraine crisis threaten to undermine Kenya’s economy, increase poverty

Clemens Breisinger, Xinshen Diao, Paul A. Dorosh, Juneweenex Mbuthia, Lensa Omune, Edwin Ombui Oseko, Angga Pradesha and James Thurlow

Chapter 33 in The Russia-Ukraine conflict and global food security, 2023, pp 170-174 from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: But many countries are affected by price increases across a range of commodities (some predating the war), including in fertilizers, edible oils, and maize, as well as oil, natural gas, and other energy products. How are these sharp international price increases impacting countries and people, and how can countries respond? Our recent modeling study focusing on Kenya suggests higher prices, particularly for fertilizer, will reduce GDP growth and increase poverty rates in the country, putting an estimated 1.4 million additional people below the poverty line.; Much of the early attention to the Russia-Ukraine conflict’s food security impacts has been concentrated on countries highly dependent on wheat imports from the Black Sea region. Given the important role that wheat products play in the diets of people in Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, and other countries, the interruption in Black Sea wheat trade and high prices have raised serious concerns about rising levels of food insecurity, poverty, and instability around the world.

Keywords: shock; policies; war; coronavirus; covid-19; commodities; agriculture; markets; trade; coronavirinae; russia; food security; ukraine; conflicts; coronavirus disease; poverty; prices; climate change; Kenya; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140102

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifpric:9780896294394_33

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in IFPRI book chapters from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().