FAO<\/a>), 17 of the world\u2019s poorest nations need to import more than 30 per cent of their cereal needs. Even more worrying, the same number of Least Developed Countries spend more than half of what they earn from exports just to buy food.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThe implication is that rising energy prices will rapidly transmit into food prices and amplify the risk of hunger for households,\u201d Mr. Davis noted.<\/p>\n
Limited room to manoeuvre<\/p>\n
Finding quick solutions to the energy crisis will not be easy, given the high level of debt repayments hanging over many of the world\u2019s poorest nations \u2013 an issue that the UN Secretary-General has repeatedly criticized and urged the financial sector to reform, in the interests of fairness, competitiveness and growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven how heavily indebted many developing countries are to foreign lenders and the squeeze on public spending they have faced for years, it\u2019s highly likely that households will have to pay more for their energy, food and fertilizers and use less. It\u2019s not going to be pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Against this worrying backdrop, the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, noted that 15 of the world\u2019s Least Developed Countries have yet to recover from the turbulent COVID years, with their economies in worse shape than in 2019.<\/p>\n
Crisis measures<\/p>\n
Bangladesh: binding measures including fuel rationing and electricity restrictions (with caps on air-conditioning, cooling and lighting) and university closures.Cambodia: reduced public sector energy use, online meetings, limited government travel, temperature controls, reduced fuel tax to help consumers and tightened oversight on pump pricing.Ethiopia: frugal fuel use encouraged.Myanmar: fuel rationing, alternate\u2011driving days, mandatory remote work for public officials.Lao PDR: remote work and rotating shifts for civil servants, public campaigns promoting public transport, fuel rationing, transport restrictions, fuel tax cuts and subsidies.Senegal: reduced consumption appeals to households and firms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And with Brent Crude still trading at more than $100 per barrel, many workers and households have reverted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[131],"class_list":{"0":"post-166362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-south-africa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116332348291537149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}