The impact of Russo-Ukrainian war on global economy

On the 24th of February the president of Russia Vladimir Putin while making a tv address mentioned that Russians could not feel “safe, develop and exist” due to what he explained as a threat from Ukraine. Thereafter, airports and military headquarters in Ukraine were attacked by Russia and they begin to move their troops into Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin thereby described this as a “special military operation” and emphasised that they will make use of trained military personnel excluding reserve troops. While the Russian foreign minister was addressing a television interview, he stated that their target is specific and not aimed at any individual.

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Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in response to Russia’s invasion replied, that they will not back down and will rather fight the Russian back.

Western leaders such as the United States, the UK, and other European countries have slapped Russia with lots of sanctions including banning the operation of Russian banks in the global market and also freezing the assets of Russian individuals who have assets in their country. A perfect example is the Russian billionaire who owns Chelsea Fc, all his assets in the UK have been frozen including Chelsea football club. This means that the club will not be able to conduct any business including buying and selling of players, all income will go into the frozen account, among other restrictions, though, they will continue to play in the premier league. The United Nations, NATO and other international organizations have criticized Russia for its violent actions.

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Effect on Ukraine

The Russo-Ukrainian war has a lot of impacts on the global economy as some countries are already facing inflation. Countries that rely on Russia and Ukraine will start to fidget as the war is getting intense and is not looking to end anytime soon. Since the start of the war, Ukraine has held on and shown great resilience than many have thought it would, however, according to UNO there are 516 deaths confirmed and several others unconfirmed. UN refugee agency says over 2 million have already fled from Ukraine to neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania as others are shelling in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other large cities as Russia moves closer.

Effect on Russia

Some residents of Russia protest the attack on Ukraine risking jail terms but this does not stop the sanction from the world of sport. In the late hours of Monday, 28th of February 2022, weeks before the country was to play for one of Europe's final places in the upcoming world cup “Qatar 2022”, the Federation Internationale de Football (FIFA) and the union of European football association (UEFA) ban the Russian football Union (RFU) from its competitions, this means that Russian will not take part in the upcoming world cup that will hold at Qatar later this year. Though Russia has appealed to the court of arbitration and they await the result. Russian businesses are suffering throughout the world as companies cut ties with companies and businesses associated with the transcontinental country. This means Russia though powerful is stabbed by their blade

Effect on the rest of the world

Russia and Ukraine contribute to about 30% of the world's grain export meaning that this is a huge loss on the food aspect as the world expect an overall hike in the prices of food throughout the war. In 2020, African countries exported over 4 million dollars worth of agricultural produce from Russia and 2.4 million from Ukraine.

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The United States government and the British have already banned Russian oil imports however this will have a major impact in those countries as Russia is the third-largest producer of oil worldwide accounting for over 12 per cent of crude oil production. Other countries cannot afford to do this as prices of oil have already soared but analysts warn that the price could go as high as 150 dollars per barrel. The global market is now advising oil-producing countries to improve their production, Though the United Arab Emirates seems to favour this decision, this was evident while speaking to CNN the UAE’s ambassador to Washington said “We favour production increases and will be encouraging OPEC to consider higher production cuts levels,” Even if UAE increases their oil produce majority of African oil producer cannot afford to increase theirs as a result of low investment and infrastructure.

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If this war persists, the effect will not be only on those fighting but on all global economy as food and agricultural produce will be scarce and their price will also increase drastically, the world will suffer a huge hit from inadequate oil, the stock market will crumble, among other effects it will have on the inhabitants of the world. Most economies are still trying to recover from the impact of the deadly pandemic (Covid 19) and yet another disease (Russo-Ukrainian war) has hit the ground running. The prayer of every peacekeeper will be for the war to end and for both countries to reach an agreement of ceasefire so that everything can be back to normal even though it is not entirely possible.