According to Sala-i-Martin and Artadi (2003), Arab countries were also in a period of economic stagnation characterized as highly volatile, with an overall tendency towards lower economic growth. To add to this predicament, wheat prices entered a period of volatility that culminated with a sharp price increase towards the mid- to late-1990s (IMF data, 2014). Consumption since 2000 can be characterized by a slight increasing trend, though the past few years of political instability in some countries of the region is not taken into account.