Translated by Tamara Barakat

A new British study concluded that the Palestinian Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) is the most expensive worldwide.

The study examined the average daily list of a British individual, which was formed based on official governmental data, and it included basic products like bread, rice, vegetables, fruit, different types of meat, and dairy products.

The prices of these products were compared with their prices in each country in the world, and the relationship between the cost of the food products and the average wages in each country was examined.

This comparison could be problematic since in some places in the world, the cost of these food products (especially milk, meat, and fresh food) are very expensive, and so they would not be considered part of the individual’s average daily list in those countries. Moreover, food products consumed in some countries, such as legumes, were not included in the list.

Nevertheless, the results of the study were surprising, and some of them were worrying. In the East-African countries (Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya), the examined products cost more than 200% of the family’s monthly income. In other African countries, they cost 100% of the family’s income. This is what happens when the prices within the poorest continent are the most expensive, and this in itself, exacerbates poverty and the gaps between these countries and the Western world. It must be noted that the food products examined in these countries differ from those examined in Britain.

The situation in the Middle Eastern countries is not much better. According to the study, Palestine’s NFB is the most expensive, estimated at 86.9% of the income, followed by Morocco, where the cost of food for a family of four members reaches 86.4% of the family’s monthly income. The NFB amounts to 42.5% of the income in Tunisia, 33.5% in Egypt, 31.7% in Jordan, and 17.4% in Algeria. In Israel, the NFB costs 12.4% of the monthly income of a family that consists of four members (the closest percentage to that of Britain (12.3%)).

Unsurprisingly, the lowest percentages were recorded in the Gulf States. The NFB costs up to 10.9% of the family’s monthly income in Bahrain, 8.9% in Oman, and 6.7% in Saudi Arabia. The country whose NFB was the least expensive in comparison to its monthly income was Qatar, for its NFB costs 2.6% of the family’s income.

(Al-Masdar)