Food Inflation In Lebanon Surpasses 'Appalling' 400% Since 2019 Economic Crisis - UN FAO

Lebanon's food prices have spiked over 400 percent since the economic crisis that shook the country in the fall of 2019, Mohamed Alaidaroos, a representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the Near East and North Africa, told Sputnik

BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2021) Lebanon's food prices have spiked over 400 percent since the economic crisis that shook the country in the fall of 2019, Mohamed Alaidaroos, a representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the Near East and North Africa, told Sputnik.

"As a result of the financial crisis that started in the country in the fall of 2019, the Lebanese Currency was devalued by 80 percent, what has led to a rise of the annual inflation by 146 percent, while food inflation was recorded at an appallingly high rate of 402 percent," Alaidaroos said.

A total of 19 percent of Lebanese citizens, as well as 21 percent of Syrian refugees, had lost their main sources of income amid the long-term economic crisis and coronavirus-related restrictions late last year only, the UN official said.

To date, the percentage of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon below the poverty line has risen to 89, up from 55 percent in 2020.

Lebanon has been plunged into months-long financial crisis, aggravated by the collapse of the national currency, difficulties in the country's banking system, and a consequent increase in prices.

The critical financial situation is accompanied by a major political crisis, as the country's political forces are still unable to reach a consensus on the composition of a new government and start carrying out reforms under specified terms needed to receive international financial assistance in a bid to stabilize Lebanon's economy. Along with that, multiple internal issues are exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the devastating Beirut port blast and US sanctions.