{"id":68776,"date":"2022-11-24T09:13:48","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T09:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/11\/24\/malawi-granted-imf-food-shock-funding-to-mitigate-impact-of-global-food-shortage-the-north-africa-post\/"},"modified":"2022-11-24T09:14:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T09:14:12","slug":"malawi-granted-imf-food-shock-funding-to-mitigate-impact-of-global-food-shortage-the-north-africa-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/11\/24\/malawi-granted-imf-food-shock-funding-to-mitigate-impact-of-global-food-shortage-the-north-africa-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Malawi granted IMF food-shock funding to mitigate impact of global food shortage \u2013 The North Africa Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the first low-income country to receive financing under a new tool to aid countries in coping with global food price shocks, has approved financing for Malawi to deal with rising food prices.<\/p>\n
Due to decreased crop production and rising prices for fertilizers, the number of Malawians living in food insecurity has increased to 20%. Malawi\u2019s government says the funds will also help address a lack of foreign exchange that has caused a fuel shortage in the country.<\/p>\n
The IMF stated that Malawi is in a difficult economic and humanitarian situation. There are foreign currency shortages and an imbalanced exchange rate. This has caused a sharp drop in imports, including fuel, fertilizer and food. Annual food inflation has more than doubled to 34.5% since the beginning of the Russia \u2013 Ukraine war in February.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the Washington-based institution agreed to lend the southern African nation $88.3m to \u201caddress urgent balance-of-payments needs and mitigate the impact of the food shock,\u201d according to an IMF statement. It also said that about 20% of the country\u2019s population was projected to be acutely food insecure \u201cduring the 2022\/23 lean season which starts from October to March, more than twice as many people as during the same time last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Government authorities say the approval of the $88.3 million loan to Malawi under the new \u2018food shock window\u2019 of the IMF\u2019s Rapid Credit Facility will help address some of those challenges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n