IMF/World Bank concern over food prices

by Richard Kilner

Story link: IMF/World Bank concern over food prices

Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have raised profound concerns over the rising price of food across the world.

According to UN statistics, food prices have increased by more than 50% over the course of a single year.

The soaring costs of such a basic necessity has prompted ministers from 185 countries to declare the seriousness of the problem and to promise to work together to find the answer.

Dominque Struass-Kahn, MD of the IMF, spoke at a press conference in Washington at which he stated that casualties could amount to hundreds of thousands if the situation is not improved.

In some areas, perhaps most notably China, the problem has been exacerbated by dire winter weather, which not only caused tremendous damage to infrastructure but also ruined crops over an enormous area, fuelling the steepening price of food.

The IMF has been criticised by Oxfam for its role in promoting biofuels, which has led to crops being grown for fuel rather than food and has had a further negative impact on food prices.

A number of countries, such as Cameroon and Niger, has seen the cost of food foster civil unrest.

In Haiti riots led to five deaths and the removal of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis from power by senators.