Aid

Effects of the war are still being felt in one of the world's poorest countries as inflated prices eat into budgets.

“2023 is another year of extreme jeopardy for those struggling to feed their families,” a WFP spokesperson said in a statement to Al Jazeera. In a refugee camp in Maradi’s Chadakori, cuts last year to the World Food Programme’s monthly cash aid have left thousands hungry, driving people to beg for food or search for scant day labour in nearby towns. “Even before the end of the month, we’ve already spent it. Last year, “the rainy season was bad, and the small harvest that we had was destroyed by worms,” says Dr Moussa Boubacar, chief of medicine. But funding cuts from other philanthropic partners last year, including the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), mean that currently only 10 of its 58 paediatric staff are being paid. A tenth of them required treatment at the local hospital last year. But even if donor funds have evened out to pre-Ukraine levels, the need has in many cases increased. [year-on-year](https://tradingeconomics.com/niger/inflation-cpi) inflation each month has remained at between 3-5 percent, far lower than some other countries in the region. “We haven’t seen any increase in budget despite the very needy situation. While fertiliser was not targeted by Western sanctions, “shipping companies, as well as Western financing and vessel insurance companies, steered away from Russia amid international financial sanctions and safety concerns,” according to a Before the invasion, Russia exported 16 percent of the world’s supply of fertiliser. A litre of cooking oil that once went for 700 CFA francs ($1.13) now goes for 1,050 CFA ($1.70), says one merchant.