I stumbled upon this today following my twitter feed and I think this tells a story all on it's own. Bread is a staple food diet so having a cheap price in any country is a necessity and obviously this is not the case . Bread prices tell you so many things about that countries economy as it is meant to be the cheapest food item that everyone can afford.
In South Africa we have a Government subsidized loaf which is around $.60c per loaf and even that has gone up in price drastically in the last 6 months. The sliced bread my family buys is averaging $1.20 and that has increased by 20 % this year alone. Government reduced it's subsidies a few years ago and that in my mind was rather reckless as the outcome will be heavily inflated prices which we are now seeing today.
How are some countries Like Algeria capable of producing bread at 20c yet others like Chad which is extreme to say the east at $8. That is 40 x the price and 6 x the price I pay currently and I think what we are paying is expensive. Going to the shop today to get the essentials of just bread and milk is costing a minimum of $3.20 which is half of the daily minimum wage in this country.
The problem occurs when bread is a staple part of the poorer families diet and this is having a huge impact in their well being. In South Africa the Government assisted lockdown payments of R350 per month equate to 1 loaf of bread per day which is kind of a joke and no wonder people are literally starving.
The saying the poorer get poorer is so true as we can see with food price hikes a large percentage of their income goes into feeding the family with little or nothing left over. This is a vicious circle as every year this gets more dire as the prices keep rising. If you are below the poverty line their is no escape as they can never save to better their lifestyle and get out of a hand to mouth paycheck.
Throw in the fact that loaves of bread were 800g 20 years ago and now are only 700g it does not paint a pretty picture as everything is being affected by "shrink flation" where you are paying more for less without noticing it. I think every product we buy today has had this impact of offering you less for the same without advertising the fact they have short changed you. A crazy sad world we live in today governed by greed.