Prices of the key food staple, maize meal, continued to generally increase in December and were at exceptionally high levels. The elevated prices mostly result from sustained currency weakness and low domestic cereal supplies, reflecting the sharply reduced 2019 harvest and shortages of foreign exchange that has hampered the country’s capacity to import grains. In an effort to tackle the soaring prices, the Government recently implemented several policies. To bolster market supplies, the Government lifted a ban on imports of Genetically Modified (GM) maize on 31 January, after easing restrictions on private imports in late 2019 (FPMA Food Policies). In mid-February, it revised the price of subsidized maize meal from ZWL 50 to ZWL 70 per 10 kg bag, due to higher import and transportation costs, a coupon scheme was introduced to ensure that targeted households have access to the subsidised maize meal bags and intensified food aid distributions across the country.