G7 commits $5b to tackle global food insecurity

A woman buys vegetables at a food market in Moscow. The Western economic penalties have largely severed Russia from the international financial system, making it difficult for the country to service its debt. Photo: AFP/FILE

The Group of Seven rich democracies will commit up to $5 billion to improve global food security, a senior US official said, as the group responds to worries in developing nations about the threat of hunger triggered by war in Ukraine.

On the final day of the G7 summit in Germany, the official said that the United States would provide over half of that sum, which would go to efforts to fight hunger in 47 countries and to fund regional organisations.

The G7 is attempting to rally emerging countries, many with close ties to Russia, to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and invited five major middle-and-low income democracies to the summit to win

them over.