World Bank and UN tackle global food crisis

by Richard Kilner

Story link: World Bank and UN tackle global food crisis

Yesterday the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the UN and World Bank were to create a joint task force, chaired by himself, to combat the globally soaring price of food.

The World Bank will provide a swift financial facility to channel funds to those countries most in need, with UN agency chiefs co-ordinating the task force’s response to the worldwide situation.

Ban Ki-moon has also stated that it is vital for UN’s World Food Programme to fill the current funding gap of US$755m, and has requested that wealthy nations contribute to help provide proper funding.

Although 62% of that total has been pledged, just $18m has actually been received by the WFP, which has a target for feeding 73m people.

Robert Zoellick, the World Bank’s president, stated at a news conference that despite recent falls in the cost of wheat, rice and corn prices are set to remain prohibitively high.

Both Robert Zoellick and Ban Ki-moon have urged nations not introduce export bans, as this would exacerbate the global problem further.