World Bank warns global food prices remain high in certain economies
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Food price inflation remains high everywhere on earth and threatens human survival in both middle- and low-income economies, the World Bank has warned in its latest Food Security Update report published on its website.
The report shows information from the latest month between October 2022 and February 2023 for which food price inflation data is available.
There is high inflation in nearly all low- and middle-income countries, with inflation levels above 5 per cent in 88.21 per cent of low-income countries, the report said, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
“Inflation in 93 percent of lower-middle-income countries, and 89.0 percent of upper-middle-income countries and many experiencing double-digit inflation,” the report explained.
In added about 85.7 per cent of high-income countries are experiencing high food price inflation.
“The countries affected most are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.”
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Need to facilitate trade, improve market functioning
The World Bank cited a recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) which highlighted benchmark index of international food commodity prices declined for the 11th consecutive month in February 2023.
“The FAO Food Price Index averaged 129.8 points in February, a marginal 0.6 per cent decrease from January 2023 and an 18.7 per cent decrease from its peak in March 2022,” it added, per The Nation.
Heads of FAO, IMF, World Bank Group, World Food Programme, and World Trade Organisation released a Third Joint statement on February 8.
The statement
- Drew attention to the need to prevent a worsening of the food and nutrition security crisis, and sought urgent actions to rescue hunger hotspots.
- Counselled the need to facilitate trade, improve the functioning of markets, and enhance the role of the private sector.
- Canvassed the need to reform and repurpose harmful subsidies with careful targeting and efficiency.
- Urged countries to balance short-term urgent interventions with longer-term resilience efforts as they respond to the crisis.