Commodity prices expected to show sharpest drop since pandemic: World Bank

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The World Bank said Thursday that commodity prices this year are expected to register the sharpest drop since the coronavirus pandemic.

The drop in prices, however, is expected to bring little relief to the nearly 350 million people across the world who face food insecurity, it said in a statement.

Although food prices are expected to decline by 8% this year, they are expected to be at the second-highest level since 1975, the World Bank said, adding annual food price inflation was at 20% globally as of February this year -- the highest over the last two decades.

"The surge in food and energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has largely passed due to slowing economic growth, a moderate winter, and reallocations in the commodity trade,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s chief economist and senior vice president for development economics.

"In real terms, food prices will remain at one of the highest levels of the past five decades. Governments should avoid trade restrictions and protect their poorest citizens using targeted income-support programs rather than price controls," he added.

The World Bank said commodity prices are expected to fall by 21% this year, overall, compared to last year, while energy prices are projected to decline by 26% this year.