Daily Times

Job losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic combined with high food prices are making it hard for millions of families to get enough to eat, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. WFP estimates that a record 270 million people worldwide are acutely food insecure or at high risk this year, a 40 percent jump from 2020. “High food prices are hunger’s new best friend. We already have conflict, climate and Covid-19 working together to push more people into hunger and misery. Now food prices have joined the deadly trio,” said Arif Husain, Chief Economist at the UN agency. WFP said countries more likely to experience high food price inflation are those that depend on food imports, or where climatic or conflict shocks could disrupt local food production, or those suffering from macro-economic fragility, with some of the highest price increases found in the Middle East.