Urgent need to adress food inflation in Madagascar

The drastical increase in cost of living in Madagascar and Africa is largely correlated with food inflation. Nonetheless, the situation is not hopeless, experts predict a potential decrease in food prices in 2024.

In Madagascar, the cost of living is drastically increasing. This is mainly due to the rising prices of essential foods. According to the World Bank, food inflation in Madagascar was 7.8 % in August 2022. The inflation rate worsened, reaching a peak of 9.7 % in December 2022. « This upward trajectory of food prices continued until January 2023 when the food inflation rate reached 9.9 % », the economic research institute Munich Personal RePEc Archive reported.

Although, it is important to note that food inflation affects not only Madagascar but also much of the world. As the World Bank notes, « Inflation above 5 % is well known in most low-income countries ». This figure is 1.3 percentage points higher than the latest World Bank update published on December 14, 2023. Worse still, this pressure from food inflation is felt in 73.9% of lower-middle-income countries, 48 % of upper-middle-income countries, and 46.3% of high-income countries, according to the Bank’s report.

« In real terms, food price inflation has exceeded overall inflation in 73 % of the 165 countries for which data are available », according to the World Bank’s Food Security Report, published in January 2024.