Washington (AFP) - The World Bank warned in a report on Tuesday that food and energy prices, which have risen sharply due to the war in Ukraine, may remain high for years, at least until the end of 2024.

The bank said in its report that "the war in Ukraine caused a major shock in commodity markets and changed the pattern of trade, production and consumption in the world."

The authors of the report believe that "prices will remain at historically high levels until the end of 2024."

They pointed out that the rise in energy prices during the past two years was the largest since the oil crisis in 1973.

The World Bank said in a statement that "the prices of food raw materials - of which Russia and Ukraine are major producers - and fertilizers, the production of which depends on natural gas, have not been this strong since 2008."

"Overall, this is the biggest commodity shock we've seen since the 1970s," he added.

"This shock has been exacerbated by increased restrictions on trade in food, fuel and fertilizer," said Indermit Gill, World Bank Group Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, adding that this raises fears of "stagflation."

As for energy prices alone, the bank expects them to rise by more than 50% this year, before a decline in 2023 and 2024.

As for non-energy commodities such as agricultural products and minerals, their prices are expected to increase by about 20% in 2022, to decrease in the following years.

And the bank warned that "it is expected that commodity prices will remain much higher than the average of the past five years, and in the event of a prolonged war or new sanctions imposed on Russia, they may become higher and more volatile than what is currently expected."

He added that this price hike entails "a major human and economic cost and threatens to impede progress in reducing poverty."