Cheap Food Eases Pain of Slumping Oil in Mideast Wary of Unrest
- Grain costs lowest in at least five years for most importers
- Food subsidies survive deficits as government revenue drops
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Countries in the Middle East and North Africa that subsidize food for their citizens are catching a break, even as the global oil slump hammers the region’s economy.
From Iran to Morocco, the cost of importing basic grains such as wheat and barley will plunge by as much as a third to the lowest in at least five years, according to the Rome-based United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization. The FAO will release global data in October.