18.02.2011, 10:40 5205

G20 finance ministers gathered in Paris to discuss food price inflation

Finance ministers and heads of central banks from 20 world's biggest countries gathered in Paris to discuss how to tackle the issue of rising prices of basic goods, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Almaty. February 18. Kazakhstan Today - Finance ministers and heads of central banks from 20 world's biggest countries gathered in Paris to discuss how to tackle the issue of rising prices of basic goods, Kazakhstan Today reports.

The G20 begins a two-day meeting on Friday against a background of rising food and commodity prices, BBC News reported.

Finance ministers and central bankers from 20 of the world's biggest developed and developing nations will gather in Paris. They are being urged to tackle the issue of price inflation affecting basic goods, like food and fuel.

Ahead of the meeting the International Monetary Fund warned that these have increased economic imbalances.

Earlier this week, the World Bank said food prices were at "dangerous levels" and had pushed 44 million more people into poverty since last June.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is currently the head of the G20, has argued that commodity speculators should be reigned in in order to reduce food price spikes and volatility.

Meanwhile, more than 100 European and international organisations led by the World Development Movement (WDM) have signed a statement warning the G20 of what they see as the dangers of unchecked speculation.

Julian Oram of the WDM said: "By taking action now to curb excessive speculation on food, G20 leaders could save lives, reduce chronic hunger and prevent civil and political unrest."

Rapid food price inflation in 2008 sparked riots in a number of countries. At that time, the World Bank estimated 125 million people were in extreme poverty.

The World Bank also called on this week's G20 meeting to address the problem, saying in a report that rising food prices were an aggravating factor of the unrest in the Middle East, although not its primary cause.

Some analysts have pointed to the difference between speculation, which can provide up-front money to a farmer to plant new crops, for example, and market manipulation, which is designed purely as a play on prices.

John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of the IMF, said the market for food and other basic commodities was heavily burdened by controls and subsidies: "I think it would be very useful for the G20 to look at these markets in much better detail and see if they can be improved to better serve the global community and not be a source of instability and worry."

Other key imbalances on the menu will include currency and trade.

Mr Lipsky said that the idea was that some of the fast-growing "surplus" countries, like China, whose exports far outweigh its imports, have been relying too much on exports to fuel growth, while deficit countries, like the UK and the US, who buy in more than they export, rely too much on domestic demand to fuel their growth.

Currency values are at the heart of this, with critics arguing the Chinese keep their currency artificially low to make its exports more attractive.

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