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With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, many families in the Arab world are struggling to find what they can offer at Iftar tables.
The British economist magazine said 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 spread across 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 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, and it now costs more than double the monthly salary of an ordinary government employee.
In Yemen, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of impending famine. To make matters worse, aid agencies have cut food rations due to tight budgets and fuel shortages in both countries have pushed up prices.
The Economist pointed out that meat is a luxury many Syrians cannot afford, and that the prices of dairy products and fruits have skyrocketed. As for bread, which is a fortified product, in addition to being the cheapest source of calories, fetching it requires spending hours in line.
Before the war, Syria grew 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 (approximately 20%) between 2010 and 2018.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of impending famine in Yemen (Reuters)Lebanon
Other countries like Lebanon face new challenges as the financial crisis caused the currency to lose around 90% of its value, while food prices rose 417% last year, and with importing many foodstuffs, local products have become more expensive.
According to estimates from 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, i.e. 675,000 Syrian pounds. In this situation, quarrels abound in consumer complexes over subsidized basic items, and on April 13, one person was killed at a charity food distribution event.
Egypt
In January, Goldman Sachs predicted the start of a “super cycle” for commodities with rising demand resulting from the easing of epidemic restrictions and the weakening dollar. This is a matter of concern for Egypt, which imports nearly 13 million tonnes Each year for fortified bread, the budget is based on an average price of around $ 200 per tonne, and at the start of this year , the prices were in the order of $ 240, in part because of the new export taxes in Russia.
In this regard, the Egyptian finance minister said that the government could start protecting wheat contracts against future increases with hedges, and that the prices of rice, which is another staple, have reached their highest point. high level for years.
The magazine explained that weak demand in Egypt has kept the inflation rate low so far, as food prices have remained stable or have fallen in recent months, but prices may start to rise further. later this year, and even a small increase can be significant, in a country that lives one-third of its people live on less than 736 pounds ($ 47) a month.
Weak demand in Egypt has kept the inflation rate low so far (Reuters)Golf’s country
The world food price index rose for the tenth consecutive month, reaching in March, its highest level since mid-2014, and food prices are the main cause of inflation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with an increase of 11% in February. .
In the UAE, one of the richest countries in the world, well-off citizens and some expats spend up to a hundred dollars per person at Ramadan tables, but that hasn’t stopped ministers from discussing the idea of set food prices.
The country has 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 low dollar means higher prices, and grocers have been urged to offer discounts during the month of Ramadan, and although the UAE can resist this luxury, the next few years may bring many challenges for other countries.
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