World’s Poor ‘One Shock’ From Crisis as Food Prices Climb, Zoellick Says

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An article from Bloomberg

By Eric Martin – Apr 16, 2011 7:49 PM ET inShare0More

Business Exchange Buzz up! Digg Print Email World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the global economy is “one shock away” from a crisis in food supplies and prices.

Zoellick estimated 44 million people have fallen into poverty due to rising food prices in the past year, and a 10 percent increase in the food price index would send 10 million more people into poverty. The United Nations FAO Food Price index jumped 25 percent last year, the second-steepest increase since at least 1991, and surged to a record in February.

Food price inflation is “the biggest threat today to the world’s poor,” Zoellick said at a press conference following meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. “We are one shock away from a full-blown crisis.”

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