The World Bank is to offer immediate financial help to countries worst hit by sharp rises in food prices as part of a huge 1,2 billion US dollar assistance package, BBC online reports Thursday.
Grants worth a total of 200 million dollar are being set aside for “high priority” countries most at risk from acute hunger, among them Haiti and Liberia.
The World Bank says 100 million people could be impoverished by the rising cost and scarcer availability of food.
– It is crucial that we focus on specific action, said World Bank president Robert Zoellick, adding: -These initiatives will help address the immediate danger of hunger and malnutrition for the two billion people struggling to survive in the face of rising food prices.
Countries will be able to access money to provide food for schools and other core services as well as to buy essential items such as seeds and fertilizer.
The World Bank will devote an additional 2 bilion dollar next year to funding agricultural projects, including crop insurance schemes.
A UN report Thursday warned that prices for key staples such as wheat and beef could remain inflated for many years. Se u-landsnyts telegram herom:
http://u-landsnyt.dk/indhold.asp?ID=14980&mode=Nyhed
