World Bank say Nigeria Having A High Food Security Concern
The World Bank has kept Nigeria on its list of countries where food security is a major issue, along with Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemeh, raising questions about the governments’ ability to weather the storm.
Nigeria has appeared on the list before, but according to the World Bank‘s most recent Food Security Update, these nations “remain of highest concern for the June to November 2023 outlook”.
The assessment, which can be found on the Bank’s website, also rated Burkina Faso and Mali as “of the highest concern” in the context of the persistently high food inflation economy, along with Haiti, Sudan, and the Sahel area.
The World Bank has previously designated the states of Borno and Yobe as ones where food insecurity would worsen to a crisis stage this year.
The two North East states, in addition to others currently on the watch list for a food crisis, might join western and southern Katsina, northern and southern Sokoto, northern and central Zamfara, and some areas of Kaduna, according to the World Bank.
“In many of these countries, organized violence and armed conflict continue to be key drivers of acute food insecurity. Economic risks also factor into food insecurity trends, with the global economy expected to slow in 2023 amid monetary tightening in advanced economies, persistently high international commodity prices, and an overall reduction in donor support to offset global hunger.”
The most recent research emphasizes that “Weather extremes remain significant drivers of food insecurity in some countries and regions,” and adds that 81.4% of lower-middle-income nations, including Nigeria, continue to struggle with food inflation rates above 5%.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) consumer price index (CPI) estimate from April, food inflation in Nigeria is still above 24%.
The data on inflation for May have not yet been revealed, but economists anticipate that the crisis in food prices, which is driving headline inflation increase, will continue to be positive and reach a peak of nearly 30% in June due to the elimination of subsidies.
Following the closure of the long-running PMS consumption subsidy scheme by the current administration, the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) has increased by roughly 200 percent. Analysts predict that the new rates will spread quickly to other markets and that transportation and other vital services will respond.
The World Bank’s latest update emphasizes: “Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world. Information from the latest month between January 2023 and April 2023 for which food price inflation data are available shows high inflation in most low- and middle-income countries, with inflation higher than five per cent in 70.6 per cent of low-income countries, 81.4 per cent of lower-middle-income countries, and 84 per cent of upper-middle-income countries, with many experiencing double-digit inflation.”
“In addition, 80.4 per cent of high-income countries are experiencing high food price inflation. The most-affected countries are Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. In real terms, food price inflation exceeded overall inflation in 84.5 per cent from 161 countries where data is available.”
But the global food inflation dashboard is a combination of hope and misery. The report acknowledges that agricultural, grain, and export pricing indices closed between 4% and 3% lower since the latest update on May 18, 2023.
