The maxim is that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon but for Arif Husain, chief economist of the World Food Programme, the issue is now more than ever a threat to life.
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on food security for tens of millions of people.
A growing group of vulnerable countries has seen severe shortages combine with a collapse in the earning power for the poorest. Where food is in the markets, many are not able to buy.
At the front line of this turmoil is Mr Husain, who tracks the blows from the sudden disruption.
"It’s a supply-side crisis, it's a demand-side crisis, it's both at the same time and at the global level," he said.
"Even during the Second World War supply chains continued. We haven’t seen anything like this."
Two of the worst affected countries are Syria and Yemen.
Mr Husain said that before the lockdown, people would spend about 50 per cent of their income on food.
But he said that now in Syria, families were borrowing money to eat.
"In Syria the prices of our food basket has risen in the last three months by 70 per cent," Mr Husain told The National.
"Prices were up 205 per cent last year and are 15.8 times higher since the start of the war.
"With war, Covid and inflation, how do you expect people to live?"
As the UN's logistics and global food supplies arm, the WFP has stepped in to absorb some of the shocks to worldwide supplies caused by the lockdown. It has had to readjust to new pressures.
In Yemen it is central to efforts to feed 12 million people, but since spring it has had to rotate recipients monthly, giving food to six million in one month and the other six million the next.
More than 90 per cent of Yemen's food has to be brought from abroad, a vulnerability that is exposed whenever the currency weakens.
"The supply chains for these hard-hit places are not working as usual," Mr Husain said.
"If we don’t get to them because we don’t have money or the logistics don’t work, they are in trouble.
"If commercial transport doesn’t work then humanitarian transport doesn’t work."
The Yemeni riyal has lost 17 per cent of its value since the start of the year, breaching 700 to the American dollar, and there are fears it could go to 1,000 riyals by the end of 2020.
The programme needs more than $700 million (Dh2.57 billion) to sustain its operations to the end of the year.
Abeer Etefa, Mena spokeswoman for the WFP, said the shift was necessary to stop the war-torn country falling into famine.
"We have been rotating assistance to getting food every two months," Ms Etefa said.
"We need to extend the resources as much as we can. When we say the word 'famine', it means we have collectively failed this country."
What makes it harder for Mr Husain is that many of the economist's professional tools no longer function as reliable indicators.
He says 400 million people were taken out of the global workforce by lockdowns – the International Labour Organisation estimates that 93 per cent of workers were affected at some point – which means people cannot buy food.
Even if there were less food around, prices did not necessarily reflect this because consumer demand was gone.
"Price signal prices may stay normal in any given place but what’s missing is a measure of purchasing power," Mr Husain said.
"Just to go solely by prices is not OK because purchasing power is not there.
"Governments have spent $11 trillion to contain the pandemic and limit its damage, and in addition there has been $6tn provided by central banks for liquidity.
"Despite that massive injection you have 270 million people at risk of starvation in 2020."
The WFP is this year facing a 40 per cent increase in the number of people to whom it provides direct assistance, to 140 million.
Ms Etefa said prices tripled in a year in Syria.
"Apples are a luxury in Syria as the price has gone up 450 per cent," she said.
"These are very resilient people but this is pushing them to the edge."
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The%20specs
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SPEC%20SHEET
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UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Company%20profile
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The years Ramadan fell in May
More on animal trafficking
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
Company%C2%A0profile
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THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
Sweet%20Tooth
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
