Food prices decline by 1.9% in Jordan — World Bank report

AMMAN — Food prices have declined by 1.9 per cent in the Kingdom following a slight increase of 0.8 per cent in April, according to a recent update by the World Bank on food and commodity prices.

According to the World Bank’s 2023 Commodity Markets Outlook, “commodity prices are expected to fall by 21 per cent this year and remain mostly stable in 2024”.

The report said that energy prices are projected to decline by 26 per cent in 2023. However, despite the large drops expected this year, prices of all major commodities will remain above the 2015-2019 average levels.

“Such a decline in food prices would be surely welcomed by all of us, particularly with the difficult economic situation,” Jordanian food trader Khaled Al Hourani told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

Despite the slight decline, which might not be obvious for many consumers, the majority of people still suffer from high prices of even basic commodities, he said.

“Families in Jordan usually go grocery shopping having an already prepared plan or list of things to buy to avoid buying unnecessary commodities and to stick to the budget,” Hourani said.

In regard to the approaches used to forecast food prices, economist Waseem Hussein told The Jordan Times that there are many elements contributing to the constantly changing food prices, including domestic and global factors.

Disruptions in the global food supply chain and even climate change could contribute to an increase in food prices and push up inflation, he said. Many recent reports have suggested that inflation is going downwards. However, people in Jordan and elsewhere are still struggling with high food prices, he noted.

“Before, I used to go to the supermarket twice per month, and now I only go once because there is no way I can bear the cost of another grocery shopping trip,” Wafa’a Manaseer, a Jordanian mother of one, told The Jordan Times, noting that the rising costs of living is also causing difficulties, not the food prices alone.