According to a recent analysis by GlobalData, the UK-based data analytics and consulting company, Kuwait came in fifth spot in terms of food security in a ranking of the 56 countries in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region.
In its fourth-quarter 2022 Global Risk Report, which is based on the company’s proprietary country risk-rating model report titled ‘GlobalData Country Risk Index’ (GCRI), GlobalData noted that the UAE ranked first in terms of managing food security. In second spot was Israel and in third position Saudi Arabia.
Other countries in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) fared equally well, with Qatar in fourth spot, and Bahrain in ninth position, while data on Oman was not available in the GCRI. An earlier report on food security by the Economist Insider, titled Global Food Security Index (GFSI), had placed Oman in fourth spot in MENA in 2022.
GlobalData said that its latest quarterly report, which assesses current and future level of risk attached to food security in the region, highlights the crucial impact of structural issues and risks to food security in MENA. Among these risks are volatility in agricultural production, trade and supply-chain disruption, scarcity of natural resources, and increasing economic inequality.
The report pointed out that the Middle East and North Africa region depends mainly on Russia and Ukraine for its imports of basic foodstuffs, which explains the high level of risk for the countries of the region, which went from 54 points to 54.3 points out of 100 points in the index for the last quarter of 2022.
Analysts at GlobalData opined that many countries in the region depend on food imports,even as problems associated with food supply chains continue to create more challenges for their food security, due to factors including the conflict in Ukraine and Syria, and droughts in the countries of the Horn of Africa and Kenya.
In terms of the global ranking, Switzerland, Denmark and Singapore occupied the first three ranks in the index, which takes into account the latest data available in the field of macroeconomics and political, social, technological, environmental and legal considerations.
