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Asia fears rising poverty, social unrest from soaring
food prices
Madrid—Soaring food prices could push millions of
people in Asia back into poverty and lead to social unrest, regional
leaders warned at the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting in
Spain.
“The recent hike in the price of rice will hit Asian countries
particularly hard. The ones who are most affected are the poorest
segment of the population including the urban poor,” Japanese
Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Sunday. “It will have a
negative impact on the living standards and also affect their
nutrition. Such a situation may lead to social untrust and unrest
and therefore safety nets addressing the immediate needs of the
poorest are needed,” he added. Prices for the benchmark Thai variety
of rice, a food stable across much of Asia, are at about 1,000
dollars a tonne, up threefold from the last ADB annual meeting held
in Japan one year ago.
Meat prices have risen by 60 percent in Bangladesh in the year
ending in March, and by 45 percent in Cambodia and 30 percent in the
Philippines, according to a report issued Saturday by the ADB.
The rise in global food prices has sparked riots last month in Egypt
and Haiti, protests in other countries and restrictions on food
exports in Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt. Indian Finance
Secretary Subba Rao said a 20 percent rise in food prices could
force 100 million people into extreme poverty. “In many countries,
including in Asia, that will mean the undoing of gains in poverty
reduction achieved during the past years of growth,” he said.
The Indian government, which is facing a general election by May
2009, has implemented a raft of measures, such as banning the export
of staple foods like rice and lentils and cutting customs duties on
other items, to try to ease price pressures.—AFP
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