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EBRD holds public discussion on rising food prices

03 October 2008 09:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. The EBRD and the Centre for Economic Policy Research organized discussions at the EBRD headquarters in London on 3 October.
A discussion panel chaired by EBRDâ€™s chief economist Erik BerglÃ¶f, brings together four leading specialists to discuss causes, consequences, and possible policy and market responses to the increase in food prices. Michael Kremer of Harvard University, Nora Lustig of George Washington University, Peter Timmer of Stanford University and Gilles Mettetal, EBRD’s Director for Agribusiness will speak at this event.
Discussions cover several topics, including the appropriate policy responses by developing countries, developed countries, and international institutions, to what extent should developing country governments allow the changes in world food commodities prices to be passed through to domestic prices, can international institutions design trading rules that avoid this problem, while still insulating the worldâ€™s poor from fluctuations in food prices, can they encourage market participants to invest in efficiency improvements in the agricultural value chain and raise productivity growth in primary agriculture?
After decades of stability, prices of food commodities increased 130 per cent from January 2002 to July 2008. These increases have attracted significant attention in the media and in policy circles: they have led to significant and immediate setbacks to poverty reduction, social stability and inflation, as well as medium-term concerns about economic growth in many developing countries.