Food price spike threatens 30 million -World Bank Chief

Zoellick said leaders should send poor farmers seeds and fertilizers and lift the export bans that are helping to drive up prices. ...'The message I got from the Africans is that they are tired of talk and want to see action,' the World Bank president told Reuters in Rome, where emergency talks called by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) begin on Tuesday.

The FAO summit will also see lively debate on the impact on food prices of diverting crops to biofuel production. Zoellick said corn and oilseed-based biofuels clearly competed with food production and required 'safety valves', but Africa could benefit like Brazil from sugar-based biofuel production.

'However it would be unfortunate if that becomes the sole point of debate, because then we would not meet what poor countries tell me they want, which is resources for safety net programs, seeds and fertilizers, and export bans lifted,' said Zoellick." [Reuters/Factiva] Meanwhile AFP reports that "UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for a 50 percent increase in world food production to confront spiraling world food prices...

'This crisis also presents us with an opportunity to revisit (past policies). ... While we must respond immediately to high food prices, it is important that our long-term focus is on improving food security,' he said. ...He also said rural infrastructure needs should be addressed, along with new financing mechanisms. ..."

Guardian Unlimited adds that "...He urged a quick resolution of world trade talks and said nations must minimize export restrictions and import tariffs to alleviate the food crisis. ...

He said a UN task force set up to deal with the crisis was recommending that nations 'improve vulnerable people's access to food and take immediate steps to increase food availability in their communities'. ..." [The Guardian Unlimited (UK)/Factiva] "Lenders making small loans to poor people in developing countries should be subject to regulation to prevent abusive practices, according to the World Bank. ...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s 'responsible microfinance initiative' follows growing concern about the high rates charged by some lenders and comes amid fears rising food prices could hamper poor people's ability to repay debts.

The IFC plans to develop these principles in partnership with financial institutions and in consultation with a consortium of public and private development agencies. ..." [The Financial Times (UK)/Factiva]

In an interview with the FT, IFC's Executive Vice President Lars Thunell explains that "...In addition to defining a set of prohibited practices - including a ban on the use of violence to coerce poor people to repay their debts - these principles are likely to include a commitment to education and an emphasis on disclosure and transparency, enabling borrowers to better compare interest rates. ...

The IFC believes that competition and scale should eventually reduce the costs of administering microfinance loans enabling financial firms to offer more attractive rates.

Furthermore, technology is likely to play a role in widening access to microfinance - for example by allowing borrowers to pay using their mobile phone instead of going to a bank. ... 'If people are not going to be able to pay because they have to feed their children the question is how should microfinance institutions deal with that.

I don't think anybody has the answer, but that's something that needs to be thought about,' Thunell says. ...Thunell says his dream is to help financial firms provide insurance to farmers to protect them against sudden hardship. ..." [The Financial Times (UK)/Factiva]

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that "China, the largest untapped micro-finance market in the world, is slowly introducing micro-credit but is hampered by unfamiliarity and a lack of clear regulations, an IFC official said.

Seven domestic micro-credit corporations have been established in five pilot provinces in China, and two foreign-invested micro-credit corporations were created with assistance from the IFC, said Jinchang Lai, Deputy General Manager of IFC's private enterprise partnership China Program. ...

A cultural reluctance to take on formal debt also hampered micro-finance programs, Lai told a conference in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator at the weekend. Previous attempts to set up micro-finance in less developed regions date from the 1990s, but only about 100 projects, out of more than 200 initially, are still ongoing.

Lai cited China's complex regulatory environment, a lack of public familiarity with micro-credit and a difficulty in hiring people with micro-credit experience as some of the obstacles to developing micro-credit in China. ..." [Reuters/Factiva] "Russia's inflation may reach 12 to 14 percent this year, Prime Tass economic news agency said on Monday, quoting World Bank Lead Economist ...Zeljko Bogetic as saying at a news conference.

According to the expert, Russia's GDP will increase by 7.5-8 percent in 2008, and the country's net capital inflow will make up $40-50 billion..." [ITAR-TASS (Russia)/Factiva]

The St. Petersburg Times notes that "Russia's government and central bank must tackle accelerating inflation to sustain economic growth, which probably slowed to an annual 8.7 percent in the first quarter, the World Bank said in a report Monday.Inflation quickened to 14.3 percent in April, the fastest pace in five years, and the Economy Ministry expects consumer-price growth of between 9 percent and 10.5 percent this year, compared with 11.9 percent in 2007. ..." [The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)/Factiva]

Dow Jones adds that "... 'The objective of high, sustainable growth can't be achieved with high inflation, which hurts both saving and investment,' the World Bank said in its Russian Economic Report. ...The Bank said several indicators suggest the economy is overheating: rising inflation and capacity and labor utilization, tightening infrastructure constraints, and real wage increases that outpace productivity gains. ..." [Dow Jones/Factiva] AFP writes that "The cushion of soaring oil prices has helped Russia weather global financial instability but signs of overheating are multiplying, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank said in separate reports in Moscow Monday.

While major Western powers are reeling from a global credit crunch, Russia's economy is expected to see stellar growth of almost eight percent in 2008 on high commodity prices and a domestic credit boom, the International Monetary Fund said in its report. ..." [Agence France Presse/Factiva] "Britain on Monday pledged $11.8 billion dollars to improve health services and systems in developing countries in a bid to combat AIDS. The seven-year commitment announced by International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander is in addition to one billion pounds already earmarked for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. ... As part of the government's new strategy, it will work with others to lower the cost of treatment, and increase the coverage of services for injecting drug users. It also aims to help support orphans and vulnerable children, particularly those affected by AIDS, and increase the availability of family planning information and condoms.

According to Alexander, Britain will also ramp up by at least 50 percent its funding for research into AIDS vaccines and microbicides, substance compounds that can be applied inside a vagine or rectum to prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases ..." [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

Meanwhile in related HIV/AIDS news, Reuters reports that "Nearly 3 million people in the developing world now get AIDS drugs - 1 million more than a year ago - but two-thirds of those in need still lack access to treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The increase in use reflects deep cuts in the price of branded medicines and widespread availability of cheap generics. The total represents 31 percent of the 9.7 million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries who need the treatment, officials said. Most live in sub-Saharan Africa. ..." [Reuters/Factiva] NYT notes that "...Unaids and the World Health Organization (WHO)... had initially set a 2005 deadline for getting three million people in developing countries onto treatment regimens, but that goal was not achieved until last year. In 2007 alone, the number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy rose by 54 percent. Still, that is less than a third of those believed to need the treatment. ... The statistics were laid out in Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority H.I.V./AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector, a collaboration of UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and UNICEF. It is the annual report that documents the provision of prevention, care and treatment services for HIV and AIDS. ..." [The New York Times/Factiva] Xinhua writes that "...The year 2007 saw nearly 1 million more people (950,000) receiving antiretroviral therapy ART, bringing the total number of recipients to almost 3 million...According to the report, the rapid scale-up of ART can be attributed to a number of factors, one of which is the increased availability of drugs, in large part because of price reductions.

Another factor is the improved ART delivery systems that are now better adapted to country contexts. A third factor is increased demand for ART as the number of people who are tested and diagnosed with HIV climbs. ..." [Xinhua/Factiva] AP reports that "...In the last four years, the number of people on AIDS drugs has increased by seven and a half times.... In Africa, the region hardest hit by AIDS, more than 2 million people are now receiving the lifesaving medicine.

About 100,000 were on the drugs in 2003. ...Diagnosing HIV and treating patients remains a problem even in rich countries. In the US, only 55 percent of people who require AIDS drugs get them. ...To curb the epidemic, WHO and partners are calling for preventive measures including more HIV testing and male circumcision, which can cut men's chances of catching HIV by up 60 percent. ..." [The Associated Press/Factiva] "Poor countries appealed to a 162-nation climate conference Monday to move faster on an agreement to rein in global warming, saying they already are suffering from floods and cyclones brought on by rising temperatures.The appeal came at the opening of a two-week meeting where the 2,000 delegates intend to start tackling the details of a new climate change agreement that is to take effect after 2012. ... Delegates in Bonn will begin work on how to help developing countries adapt to anticipated changes in their climate, on transferring new technologies to help them avoid hefty carbon emissions as they expand their economies, and on how to raise the trillions of dollars required over the next decades to curb climate change. ..." [Dow Jones/Factiva]

- Russian Times