The World Bank has said that the coup in Niger may put additional pressure on the food markets of Nigeria and other West African nations.
According to the global bank, the coup has put an additional seven million people at risk of falling into severe food insecurity in the region against a backdrop of soaring commodity and staple food prices, and severe food insecurity already affecting three point three million people during the lean season.
“The coup d’état in Niger might put additional pressure on West African food markets.”
The bank stated this in its September ‘Food Security Update” and while describing the implication of economic and financial sanctions the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union imposed on the country, it stated that food prices increased by up to twenty-one per cent in August in Niger.
The bank also highlighted that Western and Central Africa were facing persistent food crises, with the number of people in need of food and nutritional assistance in the region rising from around ten point seven million in 2019 to almost twenty-nine million in 2021, and to more than forty million in 2022 and 2023.
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