A looming hunger crisis in Lebanon

Living conditions in Lebanon continues to deteriorate.  

Many staple food items are no longer affordable. The World Food Programme estimated that food prices have gone up by 628 percent in just two years.

“Fuel and gasoline prices are continuing to increase, so we anticipate that food prices will continue to go up,” World Food Programme spokesperson Rasha Abou Dargham, said.

In April, the WFP provided food assistance for one in every six people. After the fuel crisis worsened, they now support one in every four people in Lebanon.

Abou Dargham said that this hunger crisis was “unprecedented”, and has also affected hundreds of thousands of Lebanese families that never used to worry about putting food on the table. Extreme poverty is at 36 percent.

“People who once never had issues with putting food on the table have suddenly plunged into poverty.”

Impoverished Syrian refugees have been particularly hard hit by the crisis. According to the UNHCR, 67 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now skipping meals. 90 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon now live in extreme poverty.

‘Unprecedented’ hunger in Lebanon as fuel crisis hikes food costs | Hunger News | Al Jazeera