In COP27 host Egypt, hunger mounts amid soaring import costs and weather extremes (The New Humanitarian) 

The New Humanitarian, in an article, writes Egypt, an African nation of more than 106 million people, finds itself at the heart of two of the largest and most pressing challenges the world is facing today – the food and climate crises. Egypt has a safety net with a key component which is the baladi bread subsidy, whereby two in three Egyptians receive five loaves of bread every day at a price that has changed little since the 1980s – the government bears about 90% of the production cost. However, the market volatility for wheat means the costs of such subsidies are soaring. The government’s $3 billion annual spend on wheat imports before the war in Ukraine could now be almost double, according to IFPRI. Co-author and senior research fellow David Laborde stated, “What’s happening right now – and what is also creating social pressure – is people have to spend much more money on food. Food is still available, but they have to sacrifice other parts of their consumption bundle. This means hunger may now be rising in some of the poorer populations.” Diversifying Egypt’s food suppliers beyond the Black Sea producers would be difficult and expensive too, but Laborde said the country could “rethink the type of diets they have and how some of their policies are shaping that.” Laborde added, “There’s so much potential improvement that can be done on the demand side, about how much you eat, how much you waste, what you eat.”