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With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, many families in the Arab world are struggling to provide what they can serve at the Iftar tables.
British Economist magazine reported that 960 million people in the world do not have enough food to be healthy, according to the United Nations World Food Program, around 64 million of them scattered across 12 Arab countries.
Wars and economic crises have made hunger a reality for many, and even the most stable governments are concerned about the impact of rising food prices globally.
Syria and Yemen
The food crisis is most severe in Syria and Yemen, where around half of the population suffers from hunger, and the basic food basket in Syria (containing bread, rice, lentils, oil and sugar ) in February was 222% more expensive than last year. year, and now costs more than double the monthly salary of an average government employee.
In Yemen, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of impending famine, to make matters worse, aid agencies are cutting food rations due to tight budgets and fuel shortages in both countries have driven up food rations. price.
The Economist has pointed out that meat is a luxury many Syrians cannot afford and that the prices of dairy products and fruits have increased dramatically. Bread, which is a fortified product, besides being the cheapest source of calories, requires hours of waiting in long lines to get it.
Before the war, Syria produced enough wheat to meet its needs, and in a study released last year by the Humboldt University in Berlin, satellite data showed that the country had lost 943,000 hectares of cultivated land ( around 20%) between 2010 and 2018.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of impending famine in Yemen (Reuters)Lebanon
Other countries like Lebanon are facing new challenges: the financial crisis caused the currency to lose about 90% of its value, while food prices rose by 417% last year, and with l importing a lot of food, local products have become more expensive.
According to the estimates of the American University of Beirut, the cost of preparing a simple breakfast of soup, salad and a main course with chicken every Ramadan night is 2 , 5 times the minimum wage, or 675,000 pounds. In this situation, quarrels abound in consumer complexes over basic subsidized items, and on April 13, one person was killed during a food distribution charity event.
Egypt
In January, Goldman Sachs predicted the start of a “super cycle” for commodities with rising demand resulting from the easing of pandemic restrictions and a weak dollar, a concern for Egypt, which imports nearly 13 million tonnes of wheat. the budget is based on an average price of around $ 200 per tonne, and earlier this year prices were around $ 240, in part because of new export taxes in Russia.
In this regard, the Egyptian finance minister said the government could start protecting wheat contracts against future increases through hedges, and that the prices of rice, another staple, have reached their highest point. level for years.
The magazine said weak demand in Egypt has kept the inflation rate low so far as food prices have remained stable or declined in recent months, but prices could start to rise later this year, and even a small increase could have a big impact, in a country that lives one-third of its residents earn less than 736 pounds ($ 47) a month.
Weak demand in Egypt has kept inflation low so far (Reuters)Golf’s country
The world food price index rose for the tenth consecutive month, reaching its highest level in March since mid-2014. Food prices are the main cause of inflation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, rising 11% in February.
In the United Arab Emirates, one of the richest countries in the world, wealthy citizens and some expats spend up to $ 100 per person at Ramadan tables, but that hasn’t stopped ministers from discussing the idea of fixing food prices.
The country has started growing its own food in the desert, from tomatoes to quinoa, but it still imports 90% of its food.
With the currency pegged to the dollar, as in most Gulf countries, a weaker dollar means higher prices, and grocers have been urged to offer discounts during Ramadan, and although the UAE can afford this luxury, the next few years could bring many challenges for other countries.
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