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TOKYO, April 26 (KUNA) -- Record-increasing global food prices are again
threatening to push millions of people in developing Asia into extreme
poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday.
In its new report "Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia," the
ADB said food prices have been expected to continue a gradual ascent in the
wake of the sharp spike in 2008. "Fast and persistent increases in the cost
of many Asian food staples since the middle of last year, coupled with crude
oil reaching a 31-month high in March," the report said.
Domestic food inflation in many regional economies in Asia, home to 3.3
billion people, has averaged 10 percent in early 2011, which could push an
additional 64 million people into extreme poverty based on the USD 1.25 a day
poverty line, the Manila-based lender said.
"For poor families in developing Asia, who already spend more than 60
percent of their income on food, higher food prices further reduce their
ability to pay for medical care and their children's education," said ADB
Chief Economist Changyong Rhee said in a statement, according to its Website.
"Left unchecked, the food crisis will badly undermine recent gains in poverty
reduction made in Asia," said Rhee.
"If the global food and oil price hikes seen in early 2011 persist for the
remainder of the year, economic growth in the region could be reduced by up to
1.5 percentage points," the ADB warned. In the short term, the pattern of
higher and more volatile food prices is likely to continue it said, noting
that grain stocks have fallen.
Production shortfalls caused by bad weather along with the weak US dollar,
high oil prices and subsequent export bans by several key food producing
countries have caused much of the upward global price pressure since last
June, with double digit increases seen in the price of wheat, corn, sugar,
edible oils, dairy products and meat, according to the report. Asian
governments have already taken many short term measures to cushion the harsh
impacts of food price inflation, but rising demand for food from developing
Asia and low food productivity mean policymakers must also focus on long term
solutions to avert a future crisis, the bank said.
The ADB is a multilateral development finance institution dedicated to
reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific. Established in 1966, it has now
owned by 67 members, mostly from the region, as well as the US, the UK and
Germany. (end)
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