Both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund yesterday voiced
concerns over food prices volatility, which will see more people in the
low-income countries falling back into poverty.
IMF Managing Director Christine
Lagarde said there are challenging economic prospects in regions around the
world. Emerging markets need to keep a close watch on vulnerabilities, whether
they are domestic or external.
"Low-income countries remain
vulnerable, not least because of the high food prices, not on all foods but on
certain foods certainly as well as to the danger of more people falling back
into poverty."
"In these areas, we need
action to lift the veil of uncertainty. Many of us have debated what actions
are needed. Many of us understand what needs to be done, but it actually needs
to happen," she said.
She spoke to reporters at a news
conference ahead of the 2012 IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Tokyo.
At a separate press conference in
the Japanese capital, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim also rang alarm over
food prices, among other pressing issues.
"We are in challenging
times. Food prices remain high and volatile; growth in high-income countries is
weak; and developing countries, which have been the engine of growth, will not
be immune to the increased uncertainty in the global economy."
"Our job at the World Bank
Group now is to make sure the growth over the last five years that we've seen
in developing countries in Africa and Latin America and Asia is not destroyed
by further worsening in the situation."
Lagarde said many of the right
decisions had been taken to secure global recovery, but added that these
decisions need to be implemented.
“We really need to go through
what needs to be done to make sure that recovery is not just a little bounce
but is really here for the longer term and is sustainable'” she said.
Lagarde said the biggest change
had been development of much larger global ripple effects that spread the
slowdown to emerging markets, particularly those in Asia.
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