Countries in the Middle East and North Africa that subsidize food for their citizens are catching a break, even as the global oil slump hammers the region’s economy. From Iran to Morocco, the cost of importing basic grains such as wheat and barley will plunge by as much as a third to the lowest in at least five years, according to the Rome-based United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization. The FAO will release global data in October. After two years of bumper global harvests, cheaper grain will help ease the blow of a plunge in oil revenue in a region that supplies more than a third of the world’s crude but can’t produce enough of its own crops. Many people in the area rely on their governments to ensure affordable basic food supplies. In 2010 and 2011, surging food costs contributed to street protests from Oman to Egypt, Tunisia […]