AMMAN — Food prices in Jordan shot up in the past two months
according to a monthly food security index issued by the World Bank.
اضافة اعلان
The index showed food prices rose by 0.7 percent in March,
and 1 percent in February after a steep 6 percent decline in January.
Despite a decrease of 0.6 percent in the food price index in
January 2023 from December 2022, food insecurity still affects refugees in
Jordan disproportionately, with 58 percent of refugee families in camps and 72
percent in host communities suffering from food insecurity.
Global food security crisisThe World Bank has approved $125 million in Jordan to
support its agricultural sector by enhancing its resilience to climate change,
increasing competitiveness and inclusiveness, and ensuring food security in the
medium and long terms.
The World Bank has approved $125 million in Jordan to support its agricultural sector by enhancing its resilience to climate change, increasing competitiveness and inclusiveness, and ensuring food security in the medium and long terms.
The bank has also encouraged Jordan to impose new controls
on food and energy prices, eased import restrictions on specific products to
alleviate supply-side bottlenecks, and reduced domestic inflation.
Jordan has intervened in product markets to reduce inflation
by raising food and fuel subsidies, imposing new price controls, trade
regulations, and indirect tax exemptions, while reducing subsidies on several
other commodities.
Targeted social protectionJordan has provided transfers and cash aid to those affected
by the price hikes as part of its targeted social protection efforts.
The World Bank noted that the difference between the
inflation witnessed by the richest and poorest segments according to per capita
spending in Jordan was "very small."
During the period of March to December 2022, food price
inflation in Jordan was in line with general inflation. This means the rise in
food prices did not play an excessive role in inflation in Jordan nor create a
divergence between the inflation rates of the richer and less affluent groups.
High inflation rates globallyGlobally, information from the last month between December
2022 and March 2023 for which food price inflation data are available shows
high inflation rates in almost all low- and middle-income countries, with
inflation levels above 5 percent in 70.6 percent of low-income countries.
This is in addition to 90.9 percent of lower-middle-income
countries, 87.0 percent of upper-middle-income countries, many of which are
experiencing double-digit inflation.
In addition, 84.2 percent of high-income countries suffer
from high food price inflation, with the worst affected countries being Africa,
North America, Latin America, South Asia, and Europe and Central Asia.
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