The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) called on Friday for urgent funding for its Bangladesh operations, warning that a funding deficit would curb rations for the Rohingya in the world's largest refugee settlement.

The United Nations’ World Food Programme is closing its southern African bureau that’s been leading a response to the worst drought in the region in four decades as it expects funding from donors such as the US to slump by two fifths.

Rations will be halved for around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds, the United Nations food agency has said.

The United Nations has warned it will have to cut monthly food rations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6 next month, unless it can raise funds to avert a measure that would worsen hunger in the world's largest refugee settlement.

The United Nations says severe funding shortages have forced the World Food Programme to halve rations for Rohingya in Bangladesh. After the U.S. froze aid spending, rations for the persecuted Muslim minority will be reduced from US$12.

The United Nations' World Food Programme, which gets much of its funding from the United States, is closing its southern African bureau due to funding constraints, the agency said on Monday. WFP gets nearly half of its donations in a typical year from the United States,