The World Bank published on April 25, 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 57.1% of low-income, 63.8% of lower-middle-income, 33.0% of upper-middle-income and 12.7% of high-income countries having inflation levels exceeding 5%. 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 48.8% 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 fifth highest nominal food price inflation rate in the world during the March 2023 – March 2024 period (51.4% annual change in food CPI), trailing Argentina (308%), Zimbabwe (101%), Türkiye (71%) and Venezuela (59%). It is worth noting that the data is based on the latest month from December 2023 to March 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:

According to the report, the Prime Minister of the caretaker government Mr. Najib Mikati commented on the devastating impact of the Israeli aggression on the southern part of Lebanon, proposing to declare the region as an agricultural disaster zone. In details, some 800 hectares of land were decimated, around 34,000 head of livestock were killed and circa 75% of local farmers have lost their main source of income. Mr. Mikati also requested the immediate assistance from UN representatives and ambassadors to address the country’s critical situation. In a related note, the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Abbas Hajj Hassan revealed that the destruction of the agricultural sector is likely to have lasting consequences, with losses reaching several billion dollars. The report mentioned that as of April 22 of the current year, 16 countries have implemented 22 food export bans on major food commodities in order to prevent additional internal food shortages, while 8 have adopted 15 export-limiting measures. With regards to Lebanon, the report mentioned that the country has implemented on March 18, 2022 export bans on processed fruits & vegetables, milled grain products, sugar, and bread, spanning until end of year 2024.