(Reuters) – The United Nations Commission has raised its projected poverty for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022. It cited economic disruptions related to Ukraine’s conflict.

Latin America’s and Dominican Republic’s poverty levels will reach 33% in this year. That is an increase of 0.9 percentage points versus 2021. A UN study published in the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Cepal, shows extreme poverty reaching 14.5%, which is 0.7% more than it was in 2021.

According to the U.N agency, higher fuel prices as well as problems in obtaining fertilizer or wheat have contributed to inflation, while increasing hunger. This has cast doubts on the region’s prospects for growth.

Cepal warned that there would be a substantial increase in food insecurity in the region.

These levels are significantly higher than the ones seen before the pandemic, making it more unlikely that a quick recovery can be achieved.

Recently, the UN-Arm has reduced its projections for growth in Latin America for 2022 due to disruptions in Ukraine.

This is a revised forecast that the region, which is mainly Spanish and Portuguese-speaking, will grow 1.8% by 2022. It was previously 2.1%.

Between 2020 and 2021, inflation in Latin America and Caribbean increased more than twice to 6.6%. Cepal predicts that consumer prices in the 12 months ending April 2022 will increase 8.1%.

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the region was experiencing a slower pace in trade and growth.

The report stated that Latin American countries are facing “internal circumstances characterized by strong slowdowns in economic activity and increases in inflation, as well as a slow, incomplete recovery of labor market, which increase poverty and inequality.”