MANILA (Reuters) – The Asian Development Bank plans to provide at least $14 billion from 2022 to 2025 in a comprehensive support program to alleviate the food crisis in Asia and the Pacific, the president of the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.
“Our response will be comprehensive, highlighting the immediate and long-term aspects of food security,” ADB President Masatsugo Asakawa told a news briefing.
The Asian Development Bank said assistance under the program will start this year, and will be drawn from all of the lender’s sovereign and private sector operations.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a global food crisis as the conflict disrupted supplies of basic foodstuffs and fertilizers, straining an already weakened global food system due to the impact of climate change.
Russia has described its actions in Ukraine as a special military operation.
“This is a timely and urgently needed response to a crisis that is leaving many poor families in Asia hungry and in extreme poverty,” Asakawa said in separate remarks at the 55th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank.
