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Signs plastered on buildings in downtown Rio de Janeiro blame President Jair Bolsonaro for surging food prices. — Signs plastered on buildings in downtown Rio de Janeiro blame President Jair Bolsonaro for surging food prices.
Photographer: Maria Magdalena Arrellaga/Bloomberg

The Big Take

Hunger and Blackouts Are Just the Start of an Emerging Economy Crisis

Fed hikes and pandemic debt piles add to the risks for developing nations. Some are already sliding into turmoil

By

Andrew Rosati, and

April 20, 2022, 9:01 PM UTC

A barrage of shocks is building that’s unlike anything emerging markets have had to confront since the 1990s, when a series of rolling crises sank economies and toppled governments.

Turmoil triggered by rising food and energy prices is already gripping countries like Sri Lanka, Egypt, Tunisia and Peru. It risks turning into a broader debt debacle and yet another threat to the world economy’s fragile recovery from the pandemic.