Jumoke Olasunkanmi
The World Bank Tuesday hinted at food inflation worldwide, but worst in low and middle-income countries for failing to scale above the five per cent inflation rate threshold.
The latest Food Security Update report, released on Tuesday, revealed that more than 63.2 per cent of low-income countries are experiencing inflation levels exceeding 5 per cent, marking a 1.3 per cent increase since the last update in January 2023.
Similarly, 73.9 per cent of lower-middle-income countries and 48 per cent of upper-middle-income countries are grappling with food inflation above the five per cent threshold.
According to the report, even in high-income countries, food inflation persists, affecting 44.4 per cent of nations, albeit showing a slight decrease of 1.9 per cent from the previous update.
The report which underscores the ongoing challenge of high inflation in food prices across the globe highlighted that in 71 percent of the 165 countries surveyed, food price inflation surpasses overall inflation rates, indicating the severity of the issue on a global scale.
Recall that Nigeria’s inflation rate currently stands at 28.9 percent while food inflation stands at 33.93 percent as of December 2023 according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) however predicted a decline in this high rate, forecasting a fall to 23 percent in 2024 and 15.5 percent in 2025.
