Food costs ‘ with horns ’ gore Casablanca cafe
The two waiters at Cafe la Princiere in Casablanca take turns checking futilely for incoming customers just a few minutes before local mosques announce the end of the daily Ramadan fast.
Hungry Muslims used to flock into the Moroccan eatery at sunset for the iftar meal, but with food prices accelerating by 20% to their highest since 1984, most of the seats remain empty. The manager, Mohamed, said he would not be able to cover his expenses for the tomatoes, pulses, onions, eggs and beef that were essential ingredients for the traditional dish.
“Prices grew horns,” Mohamed said, adding that he paid 88% more for eggs, 71% more for tomatoes and 57% more for chickpeas this year.
The cost of the evening feast has soared across North Africa as more-frequent droughts, shrinking budgets after the pandemic and supply disruptions in the Black Sea grain corridor weigh heavily on the foodimporting region.
Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria are struggling with rising poverty just as they try to slash the household subsidies that help ordinary people pay for staples, electricity and cooking gas.
The average year-on-year food inflation from March to December last year was 29% in theMiddle East and North Africa region, the World Bank said.
Muslims comprise a quarter of the world’s population, according to the CIA World Factbook, and food inflation during Ramadan affects a broad swath of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The surging prices stir memories of 2008 and 2011, when spikes led to food riots in 30 nations across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and contributed to political strife and uprisings in the Arab Spring.
“It ’ s a special time of the year, which makes people more sensitive about the issue,” said Riccardo Fabiani, North Africa project director for the International Crisis Group think-tank.
“The legitimacy of local governments is at risk, protests could intensify and, in general, the fear is that something could break in terms of public order and stability.”
Economic angst is reverberating through Egypt, the Mideast’s most populous nation and one of the world’s top wheat buyers. A currency that has dropped more than 40% against the dollar spurred price rises that few can afford. Inflation reached 33% in March, with food and beverage rocketing 63% from a year earlier.
That has brought new, if somewhat embarrassed, guests to the “charity ” tables set up to feed the neediest when they break their fast. This year, the beneficiaries include white-collar workers and their families. Mindful of the social stigma that may be associated with these tables, some cafe owners screen off areas for privacy while others offer “takeaway ” dinners.
Bookkeeper Fathi, his wife and three children recently broke their fast at a downtown Cairo charity table, travelling from neighbouring Qalyubia province so they would not be recognised.
With inflation and the currency devaluations, Fathi’s £2,800 monthly salary does not make a dent in his financial obligations, especially when even a cheap iftar meal can cost a family £200-£300 pounds.
“I need double the money I make now just to be able to live,” he said.
In Morocco, Ramadan this year coincides with a critical period for growers hoping for rain to avert a second straight devastating drought. The countryside is more affected by inflation as agriculture employs one in three people, mostly in subsistence farming.
The government last week scrapped VAT on imported cattle and some agricultural inputs, including pesticides, as it looks to curb inflation that climbed to 10.1% in February, the highest since 1984. Leaders are sensitive to the circumstances given the deadly riots that year over similar issues.
The higher prices are testing the nerves of Fatima Mbarki who was shopping in the open air market of Casablanca’s Sidi Moumen district. Even during the pandemic, 100 dirhams was enough to fill two baskets with vegetables, chicken and fruit, she said.
“But look at me today: I have barely filled a plastic bag,” she said. “Are we really still in Morocco? ” /