The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The revised WTO draft for negotiations in farm trade may not see the light of the day before May 12, even as the director-general, Pascal Lamy has proposed a mini-ministerial meeting on May 19. According to sources in Geneva many developing countries have suggested to the chairperson of the WTO …
Soaring food prices and starving children provide a stirring backdrop to Europe's debate on its biofuels targets, but the big businesses of farming, forestry and automotive could have a heavier influence on policy. The green credentials of biofuels have come under attack in recent weeks over fears they compete for …
The Asian Development Bank on Saturday called for immediate action from global governments to combat soaring food prices and pledged fresh financial aid to help feed the Asia Pacific region's poorest nations. The ADB set out a plan of short- and medium-to-longer-term assistance work, including financial support, to protect the …
THE Asian Development Bank has rushed to offer cheap loans to poor countries in the region to help them cope with the world food crisis. Warning of a backwards slide in economic development that could potentially plunge millions of people back into poverty, bank president Haruhiko Kuroda told a meeting …
In the wake of the rising food prices owing to a global shortage, the Confederation of India Industry (CII) has decided to set up a task force to chalk out steps to raise farm production, improve productivity and encourage private sector participation in food distribution. In a statement here on …
The onus is on the State government to effectively introduce measure to curb the price rice, Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy has said. Talking to presspersons at the Press Club here during a brief stopover on his way to Mahe, he said the groundwork …
Rising food prices may derail biofuels policyFinance ministers from the world over, who gathered in Washington recently to discuss the financial crisis, also debated the food shortages which have arisen as a result of surging commodity prices. There have been riots in response to soaring food prices in Haiti, Ethiopia, …
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush has proposed spending an additional $770 million in emergency food assistance for poor countries, responding to rising food prices that have caused social unrest in several nations. The president's proposal Thursday came days after Democrats in Congress had called for increases, and it received a …
The poor experience higher rates of inflation than the rich and bear the full brunt of the scourge as they spend the lion's share of their incomes on food and have little money left for other needs. Soaring food prices affect the poor people's welfare seriously, said a Bangladesh Bank …
The Union government has crossed the wheat procurement target of 150 lakh tonnes this rabi, and hopes to lift about 180 lakh tonnes for the Public Distribution System, which will be the highest in five years. This will not only ease the supply-side constraints, but also have a salutary effect …
Pakistan new government must focus more on agriculture as prompt reaction to warnings by international agencies on a looming food crisis that can destabilise political dispensation by triggering riots, cautions a senator. "They must be taken seriously," said Senator Professor Khursheed Ahmed as the Upper House on Friday started a …
The demand for "universalisation' of the public distribution system during a period of rising prices is not relevant since, more than four-fifths of households in rural areas and two-thirds in urban centres are already covered by it. Yet, a very small proportion of rural/urban households actually make purchases of either …
Humanitarian agencies in Sri Lanka are preparing for the fallout as increasing food prices and shortages put vulnerable populations at risk of malnutrition and leave many families no longer able to afford essentials such as medicalcare and school tuition. The global food crisis, referred to by World Food Programme (WFP) …
More than 1,000 women protested outside Peru's Congress on Wednesday, banging empty pots and pans to demand the government do more to counter rising food prices, which have squeezed the poor from Kazakhstan to Haiti. The women, many toting small children on the hip or by the hand, run food …
General Motors Corp is taking another stake in a company focused on developing ethanol from sources other than corn, the automaker said on Thursday. Mascoma Corp is testing its process for converting biological wastes -- plant matter, grasses, wood chips and other non-grain sources -- to fuel. It expects to …
Thailand is reviving plans for a cartel of major rice producers, a move that could benefit farmers by maintaining soaring rice prices but propagate the food crisis for the poorest consumers in Asia. The Thai government is enlisting the support of Vietnam, the second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, as well …
There was, last week, a glimmer of hope in the world food crisis. Expecting a bumper harvest, Ukraine relaxed restrictions on exports. Overnight, global wheat prices fell by 10 percent. By contrast, traders in Bangkok quote rice prices around $1,000 a ton, up from $460 two months ago. Such is …
Indonesia's biofuel sector is not a major force destroying tropical forests or squeezing out land used for food production, a senior industry official told Reuters on Wednesday. The grain and oilseed-based biofuel sector has come under attack from green groups for accelerating the destruction of forests, while some analysts blame …
High food prices have driven inflation to new highs, leading the Centre to clamp down on export of farm commodities. But have the high retail prices in any way benefited the farmers? How has their lot improved from the spiralling food inflation? Business Standard takes stock of the situation in …
