A global food crisis affecting the Arab world .. Which country is most affected?

With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, many families in the Arab world struggle to find what they can offer on the Iftar tables.

The British economist magazine stated that 960 million people around the world do not have enough food to be in good health, according to the United Nations World Food Program, about 64 million of them spread in 12 Arab countries.

Wars and economic crises have made hunger a bitter reality in the lives of many, and even the most stable governments are concerned about the impact of high food prices on a global scale.

Syria and Yemen

The food crisis is most severe in both Syria and Yemen, where about half of the population suffers from hunger, and the basket of basic foodstuffs in Syria (containing bread, rice, lentils, oil and sugar) in February was 222% more expensive compared to last year, and it costs now. More than twice the monthly salary of an ordinary government employee.

In Yemen, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of an impending famine. To make matters worse, aid agencies have reduced food rations due to tight budgets, and fuel shortages in both countries have led to higher prices.

The Economist pointed out that meat is a luxury that many Syrians cannot afford, and the prices of dairy products and fruits have skyrocketed.

As for bread, which is a fortified product, as well as being the cheapest source of calories, fetching it requires spending hours waiting in long lines.

Before the war, Syria was growing enough wheat to meet its needs, and in a study published last year by Humboldt University in Berlin, satellite data showed that the country lost 943,000 hectares of cultivated land (about 20%) between 2010 and 2018.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of an impending famine in Yemen (Reuters)

Lebanon

Other countries such as Lebanon are facing new challenges, as the financial crisis caused the currency to lose about 90% of its value, while food prices rose by 417% last year, and with the import of many foodstuffs, local products became more expensive.

According to estimates by the American University of Beirut, the cost of preparing a simple breakfast consisting of soup, salad and a main dish with chicken every night of Ramadan is 2.5 times the minimum wage, or 675,000 Syrian pounds.

In this situation, quarrels abound in consumer complexes over basic subsidized items, and on April 13, a person was killed in a charity food distribution event.

Egypt

In January, Goldman Sachs predicted the start of a "super cycle" for commodities with the rise in demand resulting from the easing of epidemic restrictions and the weakening of the dollar. This is a matter of concern for Egypt, which imports nearly 13 million tons of wheat. Annually for fortified bread, the budget is based on an average price of around $ 200 per tonne, and earlier this year, prices were in the range of $ 240, partly due to new export taxes in Russia.

Regarding this, the Egyptian Minister of Finance said that the government may start protecting wheat contracts from future increases through hedging, and the prices of rice, which is another basic material, rose to their highest levels in years.

The magazine explained that weak demand in Egypt has kept the rate of inflation low so far, as food prices have remained stable or have decreased in recent months, but prices may start to rise later this year, and even a small increase can be significant, in a country that lives A third of its residents are on less than 736 pounds ($ 47) a month.

Weak demand in Egypt has kept the inflation rate low so far (Reuters)

Gulf countries

The global food price index rose for the tenth month in a row, reaching in March its highest level since mid-2014, and food prices are the main cause of inflation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as it rose by 11% in February.

In the UAE, one of the richest countries in the world, wealthy citizens and some expatriates spend up to a hundred dollars per person on Ramadan tables, but this did not prevent ministers from discussing the idea of ​​setting food prices.

The country started growing its food in the desert, from tomatoes to quinoa, but it still imports 90% of its food needs.

With the currency pegged to the dollar, as is the case in most Gulf countries, a weak dollar means higher prices, and grocers have been asked to offer discounts during the month of Ramadan, and while the UAE can withstand this luxury, the next few years can bring with it many challenges regarding To other countries.