MED-Amin network

Please join us for the launch and presentation of the World Bank’s latest Middle East and North Africa Economic Update, a twice-yearly forecast that looks at growth prospects for the region. Titled “A New State of Mind: Greater Transparency and Accountability in the Middle East and North Africa,” the most recent edition underscores how many MENA countries are struggling to overcome the lasting impact of the pandemic while facing new shocks from high oil and food prices, rising global interest rates, and slowdowns in major world economies.

The collapse of Lebanon's currency and restrictions imposed by Saudi Arabia on importing agricultural products from the Mediterranean country are threatening to worsen food insecurity and creating a wave of hunger in the country, according to its agriculture minister.
Due to the economic crisis, many Lebanese have had to resort to agriculture to face the hunger that has been knocking on their doors for nearly a year.

On the anniversary of the deadly port explosion, Ammoula embraces local products and cuisine as the way to survive.

Soaring food prices have become an issue in many parts of the world. Lebanon, which relies heavily on imports, is one of the region’s most vulnerable countries. Food prices shot up 400% in December, according to government data, and more than half of the nation’s population has plunged into poverty since the economic crisis commenced in August 2019 and was compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic and the port explosion.

Household expenses witnessed a new shift as the coronavirus pandemic, which has had a varied impact on the economy, changed consumer habits in Turkey, according to statistics. Last year, money spent on services like education and tourism decreased, while people spent more on appliances and food, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data. Still, expenses continued increasing and exceeded TL 2.9 trillion ($396 billion), a 10% rise.

Many Middle Eastern countries were experiencing heightened levels of food insecurity even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Economic shocks related to regional and global lockdown measures, and conflict in some parts of the region have further reduced food security. It is expected that the regional food security situation will remain precarious for the foreseeable future.

La pandémie de la Covid-19 nous a montré que les secteurs les plus importants pour la survie de l’homme, sont ceux de la santé et de l’agriculture. Ce dernier secteur doit être considéré comme prioritaire dans tout programme de développement et mérite une attention et un soutien particuliers. Il doit cependant remédier aux inconvénients qu’on …

On the back of the COVID pandemic, experts point to mounting evidence suggesting that women’s involvement in the agrifood sector creates businesses more able to withstand crises, yet women still make up less than one-third of agri start-up leaders.
From climate change to the COVID pandemic, the agriculture sector is facing no shortage of crises. As such, conversations increasingly revolve around the need to increase the sector’s resilience.
These commonly centre on the need to reduce farmers’ reliance on external inputs, improve the long term viability of the sector or shorten the supply chain, all of which are outlined as key priorities in the EU’s flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy.

Michael Hamati emerged from a long queue at a Beirut bakery sweat dripping from his forehead, as Lebanon's economic collapse sparks increasing shortages including over bread.
"There's nothing left in this country," said the 72-year-old, as dozens of people clamoured behind him in the simmering heat for their turn.
Lebanese flocked to bakeries before dawn Friday, desperate to find affordable bread in a country where fuel and medicine are already in critically short supply.

Ramadan, which began at sunset on April 12th in much of the world, is a month of both fasting and feasting, as long days of restraint give way to big meals after sunset. Celebrations were curtailed last year because of the covid-19 pandemic. With looser restrictions now in some Arab countries, families are looking towards a more festive holiday. Yet many will struggle to put food on the table.

MEDITERRANEAN. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) lists forty-five countries that will need external food aid in 2021. Three of them are in the Mediterranean. 

The agriculture sector in Egypt, which has suffered neglect over many decades, has found a silver lining in the coronavirus pandemic. The disease outbreak has disrupted the supply chain around the world, with major producers finding it either difficult to send their crops to foreign markets or unable to satisfy demand in local markets. This has opened up a window of opportunity for Egyptian agricultural products in foreign markets, including those that were difficult to enter in the past because of fierce competition with products from other countries.

The last several years have been not easy for Algeria. The country has undergone considerable political turmoil and the economy has underperformed. Now Algeria’s precarious economic and political situation is being hit hard by the growing presence of the coronavirus. The economy, which was also slammed by the recent Russian-Saudi price war, is now expected to contract 5.2 percent for 2020. Algeria is one of Europe’s major natural gas suppliers and sits in a region marked by the large flow of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, factors that elevate its geopolitical importance to the European Union, especially France and Italy, which are major trade customers and would be on the receiving end of any new waves of migrants.