World Economy and Food Problems, May 2022.

The most talked about topic in the twentieth century was climate change. In the midst of a sudden Covid sting, the war-torn Russia-Ukraine war erupts as weakening nations seek to revive their ailing economies.

What is the economy of a country in general? It can be measured with GDP. Maintaining domestic trade, rising foreign exchange reserves, and reducing or controlling the burden of foreign debt. The measure of a fairly healthy economy. If there is no proper foreign exchange reserve. However, as inflation continues to rise, the government has to struggle to import various things. In the name of collapse in the country's economy. In this way, the recession gradually spreads. As economic activity weakens in a recession-hit country, the number of jobless people increases. As people's purchases of food and fuel go out of bounds, chaos begins in society.

The eighties were a glorious time for the world economy and culture. Across America and Europe, new fashion flashes, heavy metal song waves, or breakdance stirred the world.

But at the same time, Latin America is reeling under the pressure of severe foreign debt, and economic and political recession. Even then, the focus was on the acute fuel crisis. Similarly, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Chile were among the countries that were in a state of extreme uncertainty, unemployment, and food shortages due to food inflation.

Mountains equal debt burden, and weak economic growth. It was as if oil was pouring into the fire of social and political chaos. For almost a decade, these countries have not been able to stand up straight.

Is history coming back in the same way? This time, it is being speculated that developing countries of America (USA), Europe, and Asia, including Latin America, are going to join it.

According to a report by the World Bank last week, 15 developing countries may soon fall into a difficult position to repay their foreign loans. Which could jeopardize their internal economy. The result could be a situation like Sri Lanka. Or the plight of those Latin American countries of the eighties.

The World Bank report also said that as many as 70 underdeveloped and developing countries will have to repay about 11 billion in loan installments. They will have to bear the brunt of the internal economic pressures to pay this installment, that's for sure. The Ukraine-Russia war is seen as one of the reasons.

There will also be severe energy and food shortages in 108 countries. The population of these countries is about 1.6 billion. (1/5% of the world).

69 countries will be close to the situation in Sri Lanka. In short, the main reasons for the Sri Lankan recession are economic mismanagement, manipulation of interest rates, and depletion of foreign exchange reserves. There are 25 countries in Asia-Pacific, 19 in Latin America, and 25 in Africa. More or less these countries are already experiencing severe economic crises, energy, edible oil, and food crises. That means almost the same problem in different countries.

Egypt imported 50% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. Now they have only three months' worth of food in their stock as per previous stock due to the import ban. It is understood that this country may fall into an acute food crisis. The Tunisian economic downturn is only a matter of time. The percentage of their foreign debt as a percentage of GDP. The current trade deficit is 600 million. Lebanon is in the same situation. A bomb blast in Beirut last year destroyed their main food warehouse. 11% increase in food prices since then. The Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its weight due to inflation. The amount of foreign debt is 360% of GDP. Lebanon imported 80% of its wheat from Ukraine. The country has emphasized food security by taking an emergency loan of US?150 million with the special assistance of the World Bank. Argentina has so far failed to repay its foreign debt nine times. The IMF has given them ? 45 million for food security. In addition to food shortages, they face severe winter fuel crises ahead.

Several other South African countries, including El Salvador, Peru, Ethiopia, and Kenya, are facing similar economic and food crises.

Such economic vulnerabilities or food crises can usually lead to political instability, such as mass protests or civil wars.

The country between the north and the west is Turkey, a prosperous country. It is now suffering from high inflation and energy and food crisis. That is the same image. With 54% of GDP in debt, the domestic economy is under pressure and inflation is about 70%. Shrinking GDP 3.4%. The World Bank has advised every country in the world to manage its economy with extreme caution in the next year.

What about developed countries? Russia joined the NATO-led war in Ukraine with a budget of?600 million. The idea was that Russia would collapse in the meantime, but this is not the case. Russia's clear policy of aggression and all the signs of continuing the war are obvious. NATO has spent more than?1.6 billion in the last two months. The largest donor to NATO is the United States. The state of the US economy has not been favorable since the beginning of the year. In the first five months of the first quarter, they have an economic deficit of 7 trillion. Adding a lot of economic indicators will make the writing much bigger. The US stock market Nasdaq fell 26%. This is the location of the top companies in the world. Among them, Apple, Meta, Tesla, and several other contemporary companies, including the world-famous Amazon, accounted for 18-30% of the capital market collapse. The collapse of the capital market also includes Japan, China and Russia. The average capital market collapse in these countries is about 11%.

In this situation of general panic, it is understood that the economic driving force in the whole world is getting weaker and weaker. Widespread deficits in agricultural production around the world, artificial crises in edible oils and edible oils among man-made problems, and widespread droughts in Africa and Latin America due to climate change, with soybean oil and a variety of food grain production the lowest in five to six years. China, known as one of the world's largest factories, is currently the largest economy globally. The nearly three-month-long Covid Lockdown is not only hurting its own economy, but it is also disrupting the supply of raw materials to the world's medium and large industrial plants, including agricultural production. As a result, industrial production in many parts of the world is being severely damaged, weakening the growth of the domestic economy. The BBC published a report on 13 May. Russia has cut off electricity supplies to Europe. Europe is about 70% dependent on Russia for oil, gas, and electricity.

The superpowers, the developing countries of America, China, Europe, and Asia, are gradually shrinking their GDP. At present, the contraction rate of US GDP is 1.4%. If the contraction of any country is more than 2%, then naturally that country can be called a recessionary country. If we see the growth rate similarly declining in the next quarter, there will be no end to the worries.

Foreign exchange or forex (foreign currency reserve), keeping the domestic economy afloat, emphasizing agricultural production, and stopping the use of unnecessary and luxury goods, for the time being, every country has to face this danger.

Winter is coming. Europe without electricity and gas, America is going to face a severe energy crisis. Fuel oil currently costs approximately 6 per gallon. and also more hike tendency.

Russia's war is over, or if there is no sign of a compromise, the idea is that more than 25 percent of Europeans and Americans are at risk of dying from a cold bite, or severe cold (cold bite) bite. And the death toll from food shortages is about 30% in poor countries.

High cost of fuel, food shortages, heating systems to survive the cold, high inflation, the slow internal economy of each country, the scarcity of direct agricultural production due to climate change, and nothing but wailing among the common people. Food and recession-stricken people will flock to Europe as refugees, another major epidemic for Europe and the world.

The world is now called the Global Village. In the twenty-first century, what is the value of this civilization if people have to die of cold or lack of food?

KNN Linku

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