Africa's most vulnerable hit by Russia's war in Ukraine, says IMF

FILE PHOTO; Congolese children share a meal at a temporary camp after fleeing from the renewed fighting between the assailants and army troops of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, at the Bunagana border crossing point in Western Uganda November 10, 2021. REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has delivered a further "huge negative shock" to sub-Saharan Africa, driving food and energy prices higher and putting the most vulnerable people at risk of hunger, the head of the IMF's Africa Department told Reuters.

The food security crisis had piled pressure on countries already grappling with a protracted COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted education, loss of income and serious debt problems, Abebe Aemro Selassie said in an interview. That is making it difficult for those countries to mitigate the impact of inflation, he said.