Persistently high food prices hit economic development

Significance

High food prices hit developing economies disproportionately hard, as food accounts for 44% of consumption on average in low-income economies, compared with 28% in emerging market economies and 16% in advanced economies, according to the IMF.

Impacts

• Climate change volatility is prompting a re-evaluation of system-wide resilience; reformulating crop portfolios is one such consideration.
• More food insecurity and less availability of foodstuffs will alter diets; for example, meat consumption may fall, and malnutrition rise.
• As economic conditions deteriorate, policymakers will have to focus more on questions of social stability.
• Food wastage in developing states occurs in output and en route to market; supply chain investment would help reduce this.