A double burden: the effects of food price increases and currency depreciations on food import bills
This is a challenge for food security globally, but particularly for net food-importing developing countries. And unlike in previous food crises, they now face a double burden. They not only pay higher prices for the food they import, but the price increase is exacerbated by the depreciation of their currency vis-à-vis the US dollar. This erodes the fiscal space that many developing countries need to face the concomitant challenges of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and the climate emergency. This report assesses the potential effect of high prices of wheat and concurrent currency devaluations on the import bills of selected developing countries.
