The World Bank has said Nigeria and other countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region face imminent food scarcity if the conflict in the Middle East persists.
This was contained in the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospect Report which provides an outlook for the world’s economy in 2024.
It expressed concern that the political instability and violence together with disruptions in global trade especially in the Middle East portend huge risk for the region with regards to food insecurity.
It further noted that increase in oil price as a result of conflict would lead to increased transport and logistics costs which could disrupt supply chains and worsen the already high food inflation witnessed in Nigeria and other countries in the region.
Nigeria’s food inflation rose to 28.2 per cent in November over rising food cost. The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending November 2023 over the previous 12-month average was 27.09 per cent, which was a 6.68 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2022, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
“An escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could acerbate the situation in SSA in terms of food insecurity”
“A conflict-induced sustained oil price spike would not only raise food prices by increasing production and transportation costs but could also disrupt supply chains, leading to less affordable food and an uptick in malnutrition rates in the region.”
The bank also warned that the Sub-Saharan Africa region remains susceptible to extreme weather events like floods, droughts etc linked to climate change could lead to an increase in food inflation as the majority of the region’s farmers practice subsistence agriculture.
This is not the first projection for hunger in Nigeria for 2024. In October, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned that around 26.5 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger in 2024.
