Don't impose food price controls, warns World Bank
Food prices have risen nearly 75% within a decade and will continue to do so, hurting the poor, warned the World Bank's annual Global Economic Prospects 2008, which suggested that governments ease control over food prices and provide targeted safety nets.
Prices have shot up partly because of the "stepped-up" use of food crops for biofuels and partly because of other factors like rapid income growth in developing countries, high fertilizer prices, low stocks, and droughts, according to the World Bank.
"Agricultural prices are expected to remain nearly flat at high levels in 2008, as biofuels production continues to ramp up in response to consumption mandates and production subsidies, drawing resources from other crops," said the report.
