DENVER (KDVR) — Troubles in Europe could very well have an impact on wallets worldwide.
President Joe Biden announced a host of additional sanctions Thursday to punish Russia for what he called “a premeditated attack” on Ukraine. Russian forces have battered the Eastern European nation in the last 24 hours. The new package of sanctions aims to cut Russia off from U.S. financial markets and includes freezing the assets of four major Russian banks.
The global stock markets tanked in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but crude oil exports aren’t the only resource that will be impacted. The nation is one of the world’s biggest producers and exporters of a range of natural resources.
Ukraine ranks number two in the world for manganese and iron ore, third in iron, natural gas and corn exports, fourth in potatoes and barley, fifth in wheat and rye, seventh in uranium, tenth in titanium and 13th in shale gas.
Markets have already responded. Apart from oil prices going past $100 for the first time since 2014, wheat prices climbed to a nearly ten-year high, and corn prices rose to points not seen since 2014.
The concern is that a global supply interruption of Ukrainian-produced goods could amplify the inflation already wracking the global economy.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released this month tracked an overall 7.5% increase in prices in the last year.
Food away from home now costs 6.4% more, and food at home 7.4% more. Energy prices have risen by 27%, driven especially by gasoline and utility gas. Gasoline is 40% higher in cost than a year ago, and utility gas 23.9% higher.