President William Ruto has attributed the economic challenges in Africa to the conflict overseas.
The president was speaking on November 14 in a media press briefing following the arrival of Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis, who is in Kenya for a three-day state visit.
The repercussions of the war, he claims, have created a dire situation in the entire African region, leading to an escalation in commodity prices and, consequently, a higher cost of living for its people.
“Three things have happened, commodity prices have escalated because of the war, affecting items such as fertilizer and grains. This has, in turn, led to an increase in food prices, resulting in a higher cost of living for our continent, with particularly detrimental effects on the vulnerable population,” Ruto said
He elaborated further on the ripple effects of the conflict, lamenting that governments now have to dig deeper to sustain their people and economies.
“It has led to a second thing, that we are now spending more money in supporting communities, bolstering the agricultural sector. We are investing more money in subsidizing food production and also subsidizing the already high cost of fertilizer,” he continued
Ruto has called on the warring nations to mitigate their conflicts quickly because it was affecting the rest of the world.
“As a continent, we believe in a rules-based world, and we believe in the charter of the United Nations (UN) that preserves the territorial integrity of countries, and the belief that aggression against one country is aggression against all countries,” he asserted.
“We believe in a peaceful resolution of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza,” Ruto declared.
