World Bank worries over rising global food prices
April 11th, 2008 | by admin |
The World Bank yesterday has expressed concern over rising global food prices and urged the international community to fill the gap of about $500 million worth of food, which the United Nations’ (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) said is needed to meet emergency needs.
Addressing reporters yesterday at the ongoing International Monetary Fund/Word Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C, World Bank President, Mr. Robert Zoellick lamented that the poor in many development countries spend up to 75 per cent of their income on food, a situation which puts them in tricky conditions.
According to a recent World Bank report christened “Rising Food Prices: Policy Options and World Bank Response,” increases in global wheat prices reached a whopping 181 per cent over the 36 months leading up to last February, while overall global food prices increased by 83 per cent. According to the report, food crop prices are expected to remain high throughout 2008 and 2009 and then begin to drop, but they are likely to remain well above the 2004 levels through 2015 for most food crops.
Given this scenario, Zoellick said, both the World Bank and its development partners will need to expand and improve access to safety net programs, such as cash transfers, and risk management instruments to help protect the poor.
“Meetings such as this one are usually about talk. Words can focus attention. They can build momentum. But we can’t be satisfied with studies, papers and talk.
“This is about recognizing a growing emergency, acting, and seizing opportunity too. The world can do this. We can do this. We can have a New Deal for Global Food policy.
“First, for the immediate crisis, the international community must fill the at least $500 million food gap identified by the UN’s WFP to meet emergency needs. Governments should make it a point to come up with these kinds of assistance.
“And we need to expand and improve access to safety net programs, such as cash transfers, and risk management instruments to protect the poor.
“We need to increase financial support for short-term needs, restructuring existing projects and fast-tracking grants and loans where needed.
“We must make agriculture a priority. The Bank has announced it would double agriculture lending for sub-Saharan Africa over the next year from $450 million to $800 million. IFC will be boosting its agribusiness investments, too, across the value chain of production, And we must complete the Doha Round,” he said.
