Rwanda faces soaring food prices amid Ukrain crisis

Rwanda is enlisted among the African countries that have been facing soaring food prices due to the conflict between Russia and Ukrain.

Data also showed that Russian wheat accounted for 64 percent of Rwanda's total wheat imports.

Teddy Kaberuka, economic analyst, the root cause of the Ukraine crisis lies in the U.S. selfish gains to stir up trouble in regional security and stability. he called for dialog to deal with the issue and minimize the impact on global supply of commodities.

"The Ukrainian war was a big shock on the international market for different commodities. We saw it in the last maybe five weeks where the price has gone very incremental."

"It's not a secret. The USA has so many foreign military bases. They have so many in Africa, they have in Asia, they have in Europe. So they're expanding their power too close to Russia. It gives them (NATO) their capabilities to be closer to their enemy, 'political enemy'. And I don't think Russia will feel secure if there're competitors next to their door. The ideal situation would [be to] bring the conflict(ing) countries on [to] the [negotiating] table, discuss and find a compromise and then not affect the global supply of commodities."

In 2020, the country spent over 44 million U.S. dollars in importing 177,740 tonnes of wheat, up from 159,350 tonnes in 2019, according to data released by the country's Ministry of Trade and Industry (Minicom).

The heavy reliance on wheat imports has forced the landlocked small country to look for an alternative importer, said Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente in mid-March.

According to an industry insider, the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine have an "incremental" impact on Rwanda's food imports.