Editorial Desk :
After a deal signed between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, food prices will hopefully come down in countries that depend on food grain export from these two warring countries as well as their neighbours. Bangladesh is one of the countries that heavily depend on import from the region.
According to the deal that was signed in Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace in the presence of President Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, grain exports will be allowed from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. About 30 per cent of the wheat the world consumes comes from Ukraine and Russia that have been at war for about the last five months. The war and the subsequent sanctions by the west over aggressor Russia have triggered a worldwide inflation and a global food and oil crisis.
Due to Russia’s invasion, a de-facto blockade of the Black Sea has caused Ukraine’s exports to drop to a sixth of their pre-war level. The war has triggered the price of wheat flour to soar greatly in Bangladesh. In the retail market the price of a kilogram of wheat flour that was already used to be sold at a much higher price due to Covid-19 pandemic, saw another Tk 10 rise to become Tk 45.
Due to global inflation, the import cost of Bangladesh has increased greatly and the country is witnessing a steep fall in its dollar reserves. Internally, the prices of daily essentials, not just wheat flour, have seen a great rise so much so that, according to a report of The New Nation on Friday, more than five million people in the country may again fall below the poverty line.
This grim prospect has been revealed in the research report of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) titled “Bangladesh: Impact of the Ukraine and Global Crisis on Poverty and Food Security”. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was reported that the number of new poor in August last year reached 3.24 crore. Now, if
the overall poverty rate increases by 3.3 per cent more, as the IFPRI report says, with no break in the Ukraine war, the economic situation for Bangladesh will be very dire indeed.
Report says that around 21 lakh people have already become new poor in Bangladesh in the last five months after the beginning of the war, according to a study of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD). Against this backdrop, the signing of the deal between Russia and Ukraine could give some relief as long as the food price is concerned. “Today, there is a beacon on the Black Sea. A beacon of hope (and) possibility … and relief in a world that needs it more than ever,” Antonio Guterres said, rightly calling on Russia and Ukraine to fully implement the accord. Though this agreement is valid for 120 days, it will be automatically renewed without further negotiations. It is indeed a very positive point of the accord.
Russia-Ukraine deal in Istanbul generates hope for not just the poor nations around the world, but it is urgent for the warring nations as well as the world now to find a middle ground of reconciliation and stop the war. The world leaders must seek a solution in that direction. We cannot let the whole world down because of this war.
