The World Bank updated on October 13, 2022 its’ “Food Security Update” report in which it provides a glimpse on the year-on-year change in the food component of a country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI). In details, the report revealed that food price inflation remains elevated across all countries’ income categories, with 88.9% of low-income, 91.1% of lower-middle-income and 96.0% of upper-middle-income countries having inflation levels exceeding 5%, with some countries reporting double-digit inflation. The report added that 85.7% of high-income countries with high inflation rates experienced elevated food price inflation. In addition, the report mentioned that the most affected countries by high food price inflation are located in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. The World Bank noted that real food price inflation has exceeded real overall inflation in 83.1% of the 166 countries for which both food CPI and overall CPI indexes are available. Country-wise, the World Bank commented that Lebanon recorded the second highest nominal inflation rate in the world during the first eight months of 2022 (198% annual change in food CPI), only preceded by Zimbabwe (340%) and followed by Venezuela (109%), and Sri Lanka (95%). In real terms, Zimbabwe’s annual change in food inflation stood at 68% in the first nine months of 2022, trailed by Lebanon (36% for the first eight months of 2022), Iran (32%) and Hungary (15%), only to name a few. It is worth noting that the data is based on the latest month from June 2022 to September 2022 for which the food component of the CPI and overall CPI data are available. The report provided a list of the top-ten countries in terms of nominal and real food price inflation as outlined below:

From another perspective, the World Bank mentioned that the food security situation in Lebanon remains critical. More specifically, the Lebanese Pound to US Dollar exchange rate continued its downturn, reaching LBP 38,000 per USD as at end of September 2022 in the parallel market, thereby deviating by more than 95% from the LBP 1,507.5 per USD official exchange rate. The report noted in this respect that the Lebanese government recently announced its plans to change the official exchange rate to LBP 15,000 per USD starting November 1, 2022 in an effort to meet one of the IMF conditions that would allow Lebanon to benefit from a 4-year Extended Fund Facility. The World Bank noted that if the official exchange rate is altered, an increase in prices is likely to follow due to import tariffs, value-added tax and wages. In the same vein, the report stated that the Ministry of Economy and Trade decided on September 16 to increase the price of Lebanese bread by 20%-30%. According to the report, the increase in bread prices was mainly the result of the depreciation of the Pound against the Dollar, the increase in nominal salaries and the higher fuel costs. In parallel, the report mentioned that 21 countries have implemented 26 food export bans on major food commodities in order to prevent additional internal food shortages, while 8 other countries have adopted 12 export-limiting measures. Lebanon has implemented on March 18, 2022 export bans on processed fruits & vegetables, milled grain products, sugar and bread spanning until end of year 2022 in addition to placing a permanent export ban on March 11 on meat products, fish, potatoes, among others.