The World Bank updated on October 12, 2023 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 57.9% of low-income, 86.4% of lower-middle-income and 62.0% of upper-middle-income countries having inflation levels exceeding 5%, with some countries reporting double-digit inflation. The report added that 67.3% 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 were located in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. The World Bank noted that real food price inflation (which is defined as nominal food inflation minus overall inflation) has exceeded real overall inflation in 78.0% of the 163 countries for which both food CPI and overall CPI indexes are available. From another perspective, the report stated that the global commodity market is still perturbed by the recent export ban on rice placed by India in July which has completely rattled the rice market and resulted in price spikes. In addition, India imposed in August 2023 an additional 20% surcharge on exports of parboiled rice and set a minimum sales prices for basmati rice. Furthermore, the report noted that the rise in rice prices has raised concerns that other countries (namely Myanmar and the Philippines) could place additional trade restrictions. Country-wise, the World Bank commented that Lebanon recorded the second highest nominal food price inflation rate in the world during the August 2022 – August 2023 period (274% annual change in food CPI), trailing Venezuela (318%) and followed by Argentina (134%) and Türkiye (76%). In real terms, Lebanon recorded the highest annual change in food inflation in the world which stood at 44%, followed by Egypt (36%), Rwanda (15%), Türkiye (14%), and Sierra Leone (12%). It is worth noting that the data is based on the latest month from June 2023 to September 2023 for which the food component of the CPI and overall CPI data is available. The report provided a list of the top-ten countries in terms of nominal and real food price inflation as outlined below:

The report also mentioned that as of October 9 of the current year, 19 countries have implemented 27 food export bans on major food commodities in order to prevent additional internal food shortages, while 7 have adopted 15 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 2023.