Global food prices rose to a new high in December, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation. Its food price index went above the previous record of 2008 that saw prices spark riots in several countries. We hear from reporters in Egypt, India, and Russia who tell us what that means for people on the ground.
Many Egyptians remember the fights that broke out in their bread lines back in 2008. A young woman told me she had been hit and pushed out of bread lines by other customers. She also complained that the government ration of bread wasn’t enough to feed her six-person family.
Rationing subsidized bread was one tactic the authorities used to solve the 2008 crisis. They also set up public kiosks to sell bread in a more orderly fashion. President Hosni Mubarak even ordered the army to bake bread. The 2008 “bread crisis” passed, but the problem has never really gone away. Food inflation in Egypt continues to run at a staggering 17 percent. Poor Egyptians spend more than half their income on food.
If global food prices rise again, millions here could face food insecurity. But the government has taken some steps to address the problem. It has cracked down on a black market in subsidized wheat. And it is reorganizing the subsidy system, trying to make subsidies efficient and targeted at those Egyptians who need them the most.
Furthermore, many here believe that the government will make an extra effort in this presidential election year. President Mubarak, who has ruled for the last 29 years, will probably run for another term. But there is a chance he will designate a successor.
In this time of political uncertainty, the regime will probably do everything it can to avoid unrest. The question is whether that will be enough.
