INTERNATIONAL: A cost-of-living crisis is haunting the world with surging prices on food, energy and fertilizer amid the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a UN report showed.

The Global Crisis Response Group issued its second report on the impact of the war in Ukraine on the food, fuel, and finance sectors, indicating that under the impacts of COVID-19, warfare and climate change, about 1.6 billion people from 94 countries are facing food, energy or financial crises.

Three quarters among them live in countries extremely susceptible to such crisis, the report mentioned.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that three months into the armed crisis, food prices are at near-record highs, and fertilizer prices have more than doubled. Not a single country can escape from the living cost crisis, he stressed.

Guterres urged all sides to look for a peaceful solution to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict, asking to coordinate two task forces to help find a package deal that allows for the safe and secure export of Ukrainian-produced food through the Black Sea, and unimpeded access to global markets for Russian food and fertilizers.

Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), called on countries to release energy reserves to cope with surging prices in the short term.

"Yes, there are still stockpiles that could be released and the OPEC decided to increase their production. That will also relieve the pressures on the market," she said.

The U.S. and European sanctions against Russia have not included food and fertilizer, but have hampered exports of such commodities, Grynspan pointed out.