Thumbnail Image

Food policy monitoring in the Near East and North Africa region. 1st Quarter 2023 | Bulletin

Year of publication 2023

Place of publication Cairo, Egypt ;

Pages 75

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Journal, magazine, bulletin

Synopsis (short abstract) While global food and fertilizer prices have continued to withdraw from their March 2022 peaks, they remain high compared to their 2019–2021 levels. International grain quotations also remain well above their value in preceding years. Tight international grain markets, the ongoing war in Ukraine, uncertainties about the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s renewal, and currency depreciations pose risks to global food security and nutrition, especially in net food-importing Arab countries. Food prices are expected to remain high in 2023 as a result of geopolitical tensions, high energy costs, supply shortages, and weather events. Consequently, high food inflation persists in the NENA region. Section II of the Bulletin focuses on the climate change-related agricultural policies and innovations introduced by Arab countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change. These policies aim to increase production in harsh climatic conditions and improve food security while transforming food systems to be resilient against shocks induced by climate change

Cite this content as:

FAO. 2023. Food policy monitoring in the Near East and North Africa region. 1st Quarter 2023 | Bulletin. Cairo. 

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Journal, magazine, bulletin
    Food policy monitoring in the Near East and North Africa region. 3rd Quarter 2023 | Bulletin 2023
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Global commodities and food prices continued their downward trend in the third quarter of 2023; however, food price inflation remains a great concern in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. While the oil-exporting Gulf countries are faring well through the ongoing macroeconomic challenges, other NENA countries are struggling with high energy and input costs, economic challenges, domestic currency depreciation and serious food insecurity in the conflict zones. Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen are expected to lack the resources to deal with reported critical problems of food insecurity.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Journal, magazine, bulletin
    Food policy monitoring in the Near East and North Africa region. 4th Quarter 2023 | Bulletin 2023
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Global food prices have continued to drop at a slower pace in recent months; however, they are still well above the price levels observed in 2020. Commodity prices are set to fall gradually in 2024 and stabilize in 2025. However, conflict-driven oil supply disruptions create a significant upside risk for price forecasts. The food consumer price index is currently the highest in the Near East and North Africa among all world regions, with Lebanon, Egypt and the Syrian Arab Republic experiencing the highest food price inflation. However, in most countries of the region, food prices show a steady or decreasing trend.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Journal, magazine, bulletin
    Food policy monitoring in the Near East and North Africa region. 2nd Quarter 2023 | Bulletin 2023
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Although international commodities and food prices have declined over the past 12 months, domestic food price inflation remains high in many countries of the Arab region, partly due to domestic currency depreciation and continued high energy, transportation, and insurance costs. The average food consumer price index in the NENA region was 18.2 percent at the beginning of July 2023, according to the FAO Data Lab price nowcasting tool, and was elevated in the following countries: Algeria (18.9 percent), Egypt (67 percent), Lebanon (328 percent), Mauritania (14 percent), Morocco (15.3 percent), Sudan (28.2 percent), and Tunisia (16.2 percent). Conversely, Jordan and the oil-exporting Gulf countries have low food inflation rates (below 5 percent). Raising cash for foreign debt repayments has become an increasingly difficult task for many countries in the region (except for oil-exporting Gulf countries). This decreases the financial space to maintain the price support of basic staple food in real terms and safeguard social safety net measures, which, in turn, threatens to aggravate food insecurity.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.