Two major economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region were among the top 10 countries facing the highest annual food inflation globally.

Lebanon topped the list, with food price inflation surging by 352% year-on-year (YoY).

Real food inflation - food inflation minus overall inflation – stood at 89% year-on-year last month, according to the World Bank’s latest food security update released on May 4. 

Egypt, one of the largest economies in Africa was ranked sixth in the list. Egypt reported nominal and real food inflation of 63% and 30%, respectively.

Argentina, the second country on the top 10 list, saw food price inflation of 107% YoY, followed by Zimbabwe at 102% YoY.

According to the latest update, domestic food price inflation - measured as an annual change in the food component of a country’s consumer price index (CPI) - remained high, with 81.8% of high-income countries experiencing high food price inflation.

The most-affected countries were in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. 

In real terms, food price inflation exceeded overall inflation in 84.3 percent of the 159 countries for which food CPI and overall CPI indexes were available.

Meanwhile, high inflation was seen in almost all low- and middle-income countries, with inflation greater than 5% in 64.7 percent of low-income countries, 83.7% of lower-middle-income countries, and 89% upper-middle-income countries.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)