Skip to main content

World Food Programme sounds alarm as food prices rise in MidEast

Currency depreciation and pandemic job losses in neighboring Lebanon and Syria have contributed to major food inflation in both countries.
AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images

Middle East countries have experienced some of the highest price increases in food, the UN World Food Programme said Thursday, warning that millions of families already struggling with pandemic job losses are unable to put nutritious food on the table. 

"High food prices are hunger's new best friend," the WFP’s chief economist Arif Husain said in a statement. "We already have conflict, climate and COVID-19 working together to push more people into hunger and misery. Now food prices have joined the deadly trio."

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.