No continent is spared. Everywhere, rising prices are fueling social anger and political instability. In Sri Lanka, where food price inflation exceeds 80% over one year, and where five out of six families are forced to skip a meal, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted in mid-July after fleeing the country. In Uganda, where the price of petrol has doubled in the past five months, several protesters have been arrested.
In Panama, the government obtained, on Monday July 18, the release of bridges and highways by residents who were demanding lower prices for gasoline and other products. “essential”, while in Ecuador, demonstrations by indigenous populations left six dead and more than 600 injured, before the government agreed to release 700 million dollars (690 million euros) in favor of purchasing power. Closer to France, the Facebook group People of Ireland Against Fuel Prices, created in Ireland, has been organizing blockades since April to obtain a cap on fuel prices from the government.
The rise in prices is taking hold in the global economy. In the developed countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it should be twice as high as expected at the start of the year and peak at 8.5% in 2022, a level not reached since 1988. In April, three quarters of the countries recorded an annual price increase of more than 5%.
An economic scourge as much as a political danger
This inflationary wave began in 2020, when demand stimulated by governments’ post-Covid stimulus plans shifted to goods, to the detriment of services. This, while factories were closing due to health restrictions, disrupting supply chains. The movement continued with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, two countries which provide a significant share of world exports of agricultural products and energy.
This overheating is already disrupting daily life on five continents. In Australia, the photo of a lettuce sold for 11.99 dollars (8 euros) in a Queensland supermarket has ignited social networks and triggered a mini-political storm. Australians are now learning on YouTube how to grow vegetables at home and restaurant owners are recomposing their menus without zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower, the prices of which have soared. In Nigeria, where annual inflation reached 19% in April, bakers are now mixing wheat flour with flour made from sweet potatoes produced in the country to limit the increase in their prices and keep their customers.
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