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: