The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Recent spikes in staple food prices resulting from the invasion of Ukraine have once again highlighted the difficulty faced by low-income countries that rely on imports for a substantial portion of their food supply. To better understand which countries are most affected by higher world food prices, we propose a …
Food insecurity has been increasing dramatically. In 2022, 258 million people in 58 countries faced acute food insecurity, an increase of 34 per cent from the previous year. Trade can be an important enabler of economic development and the smooth flow of agricultural trade is a necessary condition for food …
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched its annual Statistical Yearbook, covering latest trends in the world’s agrifood systems and highlighting for the first time the impact of disasters on agriculture and the cost and affordability of a healthy diet.This publication offers a synthesis of …
The GRFC 2023 Mid-Year Update highlights that high levels of acute food insecurity persist in 2023 due to protracted food crises and new shocks, with improvements in some countries. Data available for 48 countries as of August 2023 shows that over 20 million more people face high levels of acute …
In a somewhat concerning development on macro-economic front, retail inflation, measured by the year-on-year (YoY) Consumer Price Index (CPI) remains above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper tolerance ceiling of 6 percent (4+/- 2 percent), at 6.83 percent in August 2023. In the last month, retail inflation had surged …
This new study---*Knowing Better, Responding Worse: How Mistakes from 2008 Led to the Food Crisis of Today---* released by CARE reported that 112.2 million more people around the world were driven to hunger after 2020, compared to the previous major global food crisis (2008-2009). Despite this significant increase in hunger …
Almost 258 million people in 58 countries faced acute food shortages last year due to conflicts, climate change, effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, according to this United Nations report, a sharp rise from 193 million the previous year. The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) …
This decade has been marked by multiple, often overlapping, crises. The COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and the ongoing war in Ukraine have all threatened the fabric of our global food systems. But opportunities can be found amid crises, and the world’s food systems have demonstrated surprising resilience. With new evidence …
Economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are expected to grow at a slower pace in 2023, as double-digit food inflation adds pressure on poorer households and the impact of food insecurity can span generations, according to the World Bank’s latest economic update. Titled "Altered Destinies: The Long-Term …
South Asia’s outlook is shaped by both good and bad news in the global economy. Lower commodity prices, a strong recovery in the services sector, and reduced disruptions in value chains are aiding South Asia’s recovery but rising interest rates and uncertainty in financial markets are putting downward pressure on …
Global public debt, the highest seen in 60 years, is causing a spike in food insecurity, according to this new report. This is especially true for low-income countries where around 60% are facing a debt crisis and debt servicing costs have gone up due to the depreciation of their currencies …
This report presents an overview on the impact of the global food crisis on the Asia Pacific region, with a focus on the impact on food security, nutrition, and the capacity of key actors to respond. The protracted conflict in Ukraine and the global food crisis are having substantial impacts …
Agriculture-nutrition linkages in developing countries remain complex and continue evolving as weather and market risks intensify due to climate change and other geopolitical and socioeconomic factors. Knowledge gaps remain regarding the exact interrelationship among these dimensions of agriculture-nutrition linkages. This study aimed to partly fill this knowledge gap by assessing …
The East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region has been less exposed to the food price shock arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than other world regions. East Asia and Pacific economies have not imported much directly from the war-affected countries and have consumed less wheat (prices for which spiked) and …
The COVID-19 pandemic massively slowed down worldwide economic growth and poverty increased. At the onset of the pandemic, many governments put in place various containment measures such as restricting the free movements of people both within and between countries, and closing non-essential businesses and schools, among others. Food systems have …
In an era of multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2023 Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership Report – titled ‘Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals through Solutions at the Energy, Food and Finance Nexus’ focuses on solutions at the nexus of the energy, …
With famine fast approaching in Somalia, there is still time to turn the tide by addressing the immediate needs of rural communities who are amongst those at greatest risk, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in the context of the recently released food security survey …
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 …
The 21st Century has been marked by increased volatility in food prices, with global price spikes in 2007-08, 2010-11, and again in 2021-22. The impact of food inflation on the risk of child undernutrition is not well understood, however. This study explores the potential impacts of food inflation on wasting …
By mid-2022, the population facing the three highest phases of acute food insecurity was greater than at any point in the six-year history of the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC). According to the GRFC 2022 Mid-Year Update, the number of people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or …
