Ramadan begins in much of Middle East amid rising food prices

• Many in Indonesia planned to start observing Sunday, just as some Shiites in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.
• Jordan, a predominantly Sunni country, also said the first day of Ramadan would be on Sunday, per AP.

The big picture: The start of Ramadan comes as the United Nations has warned that "people’s resilience [in the Middle East and North Africa] is at a breaking point" due to the soaring cost of food staples in the import-dependent region.

• "We are extremely concerned about the millions of people in this region who are already struggling to access enough food because of a toxic combination of conflict, climate change and the economic aftermath of COVID-19," Corinne Fleischer, the UN's World Food Program regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.
• "This crisis is creating shock waves in the food markets that touch every home in this region. No one is spared."

By the numbers: The cost of a basic food basket, the minimum food needs per family per month, rose 351% in Lebanon, the highest in the region, per the UN.

• Syria saw a 97% surge in costs, and Yemen tallied an 81% increase.

Between the lines: "Even prior to the conflict in Ukraine, inflation and increasing prices were putting basic food items beyond the reach of the most vulnerable," the UN notes.

Go deeper: Surge in wheat prices expected to seed more suffering