G20 talks about food crisis

The finance ministers of the G20 began a two-day meeting in Paris Friday, to discuss among other things the possibility of a new food crisis. A recent World Bank report says that about 44 million people in developing countries have slipped into poverty on account of soaring prices of food items.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of the host nation France is advocating more regulation of international markets to help stem the tide of rising prices.

“I think there is probably very little the G20 finance minsters can do at this point,” says Kishore Jayabalan, the head of the Rome office of the Action Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.

He points out the growing demand for food, especially in Asia, and the decreased supply to events such as the floods in Asia, mean price increases are not surprising.

“A bubble is also being created by what central banks have done…to keep interests rates low,” he added. “This has increased the amount of speculation that has taken place in a lot of commodity markets and driving up the price of commodities all over the world. And this, of course, is leading to higher food prices.”

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Kishore Jayabalan: