The World Bank updated on February 15, 2024 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, 71.7% of lower-middle-income, 48.0% of upper-middle-income and 45.5% of high-income countries having inflation levels exceeding 5%, with some countries reporting double-digit inflation. 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 72.0% of the 165 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 food price inflation rate in the world during the December 2022 – December 2023 period (207.6% annual change in food CPI), trailing Argentina (251%) and followed by Venezuela (91%) and Türkiye (70%). In real terms, Lebanon recorded the fourth highest annual change in food inflation in the world which stood at 15%, trailing Argentina (40%), Zimbabwe (26%) and Egypt (18%) and followed by Vietnam (12%), and Palestine (9%). It is worth noting that the data is based on the latest month from October 2023 to January 2024 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 food price inflation as outlined below:

The report mentioned that as of February 12 of the current year, 16 countries have implemented 23 food export bans on major food commodities in order to prevent additional internal food shortages, while 8 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 2024.