The Pandemic Hits Poor Countries

 A UN report said the coronavirus pandemic has been a major driver of food inequality. World food prices jumped to an almost six-year high in November. World food prices have risen for the sixth month in a row, hitting the "highest level since December 2014" according to the FAO. 

Leading the surge in prices was vegetable oil, rising 14.5% month-on-month due largely to a jump in palm oil prices. The FAO described the increase as "stunning." Cereals, sugar, meat, and dairy also showed rises. The sugar price index was up 3.3% month-on-month amid "growing expectations of a global production shortfall" as poor weather weakened crop prospects in the EU, Russia, and Thailand.

The FAO agency said an increase in prices was an extra burden for those whose income had fallen because of coronavirus. It said the COVID-19 pandemic was proving to be "an important driver of the levels of global food insecurity."

"The pandemic is exacerbating and intensifying already fragile conditions caused by conflicts, pests and weather shocks, including recent hurricanes in Central America and floods in Africa," it said. The FAO said that 45 countries, 34 of them in Africa, continued to be in need of external help to secure enough food.

The pandemic could push as many as 32 million people in the world's least developed countries into extreme poverty, a new UN report has said. Global poverty levels and food insecurity are also expected to go up, with temporary bouts of poverty becoming prolonged. The share of people in LDCs living below the $1.90 (€1.57) per day poverty line is expected to rise 3 percentage points to 35.2%, representing an additional 32 million people, the report said.

Without international action, global development goals will be missed. The world's least developed countries (LDCs) will experience their worst economic performance in 30 years in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said. A major slump in global demand for products has depressed the prices of key exports. Countries whose economies depend heavily on the export of a few products, like minerals and metals or garments, have experienced particularly bad shocks as foreign trade prices and volume fell suddenly.

The situation in LDCs poses a particular risk to global health, education, and sustainability goals, the report said. Populations may be pushed to detrimental coping strategies, including reducing consumption of healthy food and pulling their children out of school.

"The least developed countries today are undergoing the worst recession in 30 years," UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi wrote. "Their already low standards of living are falling. Their stubbornly high poverty rates are rising further, reversing the slow improvement they had achieved prior to the pandemic. Progress towards achievements on nutrition, health and education are being undone by the onslaught of the crisis." Kituyi went on to explain, "The least developed countries have deployed their limited means to counter the recession, but they find themselves the countries the worst hit by a crisis for which they are not responsible, similar to their situation vis-à-vis climate change. This is an injustice which needs to be redressed."

Rebuilding these economies post-COVID will be especially difficult if their production capacities — already low before the pandemic — are not improved.