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It is customary for traders to raise the prices of food every year, coinciding with the month of Ramadan, especially vegetables, juices and meats, and all the products that are in great demand among fasting people, but this year the prices of all food products. , including the basics, coincided with the collapse of the lira. Their prices have reached such records that they are no longer affordable for everyone.
To monitor the magnitude of the increase in food prices with the approach of Ramadan, researchers from the Crisis Observatory of the American University studied the “Fattoush Index.” It is an index issued by the Ministry of Economy and Trade in the month of Ramadan every year since 2012. The index includes the prices of 14 materials that make up the fattoush authority, with the appropriate weight for each type.
In a look at the development of the “Fattoush Index” since 2012, and in a simulation of what its cost will be in Ramadan this year, based on component prices at the end of March, the index shows a 210 percent increase this year. year compared to last year, which in turn increased by 36 percent. Percentage for the year 2019, as shown in the graph.
The cost of making fattoush for a small family of five at the beginning of Ramadan this year is estimated at 18,500 lira, compared with 6,000 lira in 2020 and about 4,500 lira in 2019.
In a simple simulation, the cost of just fattoush for a family of five will reach approximately 555,000 pounds in a whole month. That’s the equivalent of 82 percent of the value of the minimum wage. As has become clear, this significant increase in the Fattoush index will be accompanied by inflation in the prices of other commodities, which are often used by people who fast at their Ramadan tables. This means that most families in Lebanon will be affected by obtaining basic goods and basic components from their tables during the upcoming Ramadan.
This large price increase will push families to negatively adapt to this inflation, either by reducing the amount of food or relying on cheaper alternatives such as starches instead of vegetables and meat, and the consequent malnutrition.
In this context, from the beginning of Ramadan, the Crisis Observatory will issue a “Ramadan Price Index”, through which it will monitor the evolution of a series of prices of basic products used by people who fast at their tables and publish them. weekly.
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