Statement by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the publication of the Joint International Financial Institutions Plan to Address Food Insecurity
IMF News, May 18, 2022
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- Statement by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the publication of the Joint International Financial Institutions Plan to Address Food Insecurity
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Bibliographic details
- Published: May 18, 2022
Context and release information
- Press Release No. 22/158
- Date: May 18, 2022
- Issued by: IMF Communications Department
- MEDIA RELATIONS PRESS OFFICER: Nicolas Mombrial
- Phone: +1 202 623-7100
- Email: MEDIA@IMF.org
- Social: @IMFSpokesperson
- Convening background: Meeting of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and global leaders convened by the US Treasury on April 19, titled “Tackling Food Insecurity: the challenges and call to action.”
Immediate drivers of the crisis
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has precipitated serious economic and social consequences around the globe.
- Consequences highlighted:
- Dangerous food shortages.
- Sharply higher prices for food, energy, and fertilizers.
- These pressures occur when countries’ public finances are already stretched from the pandemic and public debt burdens are high.
- Inflation reaching the highest levels seen in decades.
- Vulnerable households in low- and middle-income countries are most at risk of acute food insecurity.
- Historical lesson: hunger often triggers social unrest and violence.
Lesson from prior crisis and rationale for coordinated action
- Key lesson from the 2007-08 food crisis: the international community needs to take fast and well-coordinated actions to effectively tackle a food crisis.
- Essential coordinated actions identified:
- Maintaining open trade.
- Supporting vulnerable households.
- Ensuring sufficient agricultural supply.
- Addressing financing pressures.
- Coordination among International Financial Institutions (IFIs) is critical for maximum impact and for quickly alleviating food insecurity, especially for the most vulnerable households in the most vulnerable countries.
IMF roles and instruments to address food insecurity
- Policy and technical support:
- Provide policy advice.
- Provide capacity development assistance.
- Provide financial support to catalyze and complement financing from other institutions.
- Monitoring and identification:
- Investing in monitoring capacity to allow for timely identification of countries with the most pronounced financing pressures, especially fragile and conflict-affected states.
- Macroeconomic and social policy work:
- Working with country authorities on macroeconomic frameworks and policy priorities.
- Critical focus: assist countries to rapidly improve social safety nets to protect vulnerable households from the imminent threat of hunger.
- Priority: help members identify ways to safeguard food security without resorting to export restrictions.
- These policy objectives are reflected in IMF program engagement.
- Financial instruments and financing channels:
- IMF financial support examples:
- Moldova (recently augmented to help address the harmful effects of the war) — includes a focus on strengthening social safety nets for vulnerable households.
- Mozambique — includes a focus on strengthening social safety nets for vulnerable households.
- Resilience and Sustainability Trust:
- Will provide affordable longer-term financing for countries facing structural challenges.
- IMF emergency financing:
- Countries with acute financing needs could access IMF emergency financing, where appropriate.
- Intensifying efforts with the World Bank and others to support debt restructurings where needed.
Joint IFI Plan: priorities and coordinated goals
- The IMF, African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) formulated a joint action plan.
- IFI published plan actions to step up, surge, and scale work across six priority goals:
- (i) support vulnerable people;
- (ii) promote open trade;
- (iii) mitigate fertilizer shortages;
- (iv) support food production now;
- (v) invest in climate-resilient agriculture for the future;
- (vi) coordinate for maximum impact.
International Monetary Fund. Statement by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the publication of the Joint International Financial Institutions Plan to Address Food Insecurity. May 18, 2022.
Content in this bundle
- ififsactionplan-finalv5