Soaring Bread Prices Should Make Arab Leaders Nervous
Anger at food inflation could easily spur political unrest as it did a decade ago, especially in Egypt, the world’s No. 1 importer of wheat.
Rising risk.
Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
When Muslims in the Arab world congregate at sundown during Ramadan to chew the fat during the fast-breaking “iftar” meal, the conversations tend to drift toward politics, and good-natured gabfests can quickly turn into group grumbling. Nothing leavens a gripe session more than the rising price of the staple of every Middle Eastern meal: bread.
The grousing is guaranteed to be heated when Ramadan begins next week. The price of wheat, already rising toward the end of last year, has skyrocketed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two countries are among the world’s biggest exporters of wheat and major suppliers of the Arab world.