BUSINESS 113 From Man:oI MbamaIu, Rome, Italy
'A JORLD leaders at the ongoing 34th
Food Crisis Fuels Unrests In Middle East, Africa, Say World Leaders
VV Governing Council summi~ of the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) in Rome, the Italian capital, yesterday, attributed the political unrests in the Middle East and Africa to growing food crisis and insecurity across the world. Also yesterday, Nigeria received commenda· tion from former United Nations scribe and Chairman of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Agriculture (AGRA), Mr. Kofi I k . "AI H 'd Annan, over its $500 million risk.sharing not met, peop eta e actIon, ussen sal . Nigeria's $500 million scheme for the facility to rural farmers. Agricultural sector received commendation This comes as IFAD gave an indication that it from Kofi Annan, when he said the nation is wo,:,ld roll out new projects worth over $70 leading the way in Africa through its com. bIllIon m 16 st~tes across the country. . mitment of $500 million to develop a risk. The G~vern.mg CouncIl Summ~t, ~Ith the sharingfacilitythatcouidieverageS3billion Theme, FeedlDg Future GeneratIOns. Young in new lending to the a~ricultural sector. Rural People Today;;: Prosperous Productive According to Annan, mnovative efforts to Farmers.Tomorrow, IS bemg held slmulta",e- work with banks in sharing risks \llId boostously with the G20 S~mmlt m Pans, WIth ing lending, has put the brakes on impedi. both conferences focusmg on resolvmg food ments to agricultural development, such as cnsls after the World Bank gave a warnmg of lack of accessible credit and other financial a long·lastm~ food cnsls. . services, including crop insurance. Annan, while dehve~mg keynote address mpartnering with the financial sector, the Rome yesterday, saId mabllIty to meet nsm~ former UN scribe said, has helped leverage global food demand IS. m the heart of polItI· $160 million in affordable loans to agricul. cal unrests m some Afncan countnes and the ture from commercial banks in Kenya, MIddle East. . Uganda, Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania. Slm!larly, a jordan Royal and Untted Annan also praised IFAD for recently NatIo,:,s Messenger of Peace, Pnncess Ha'y~ AI approving $20 million for Tanzania to devel. Hussem, warned of global-Arab·style polItIcal op a risk-sharing faCility that would see upnsm~s over food shortages.. additional $200 million made available by She saId the pnce of food has remamed one banks to agriculture. of the dnvmg forces as Arab youths have He urged creative solutions to the chal. taken to the streets to d~mand change from lenge posed by the current food crisiS, notth: Maghreb to the ArabIan Gulf. ing that Africa remained the only continent You can argue about how much of the tur- that does not produce enough food to feed mOll. was about eC!lnomlcs or polItICS, bm itself.· The result, he said, is that nearly 240 food IS the most basIC human need. When It IS million people in sub-Saharan Africa that do
NI'gerl'a's $500m RI'sk-sharing. Facl'lity For Agriculture Gets Attention
By Geoff iyals8 (with agency reports)
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TH the world's economies moving at two different speeds, fast-growing developing countries are luring money at a pace that, if left unchecked, could set the stage for future problems, Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Shalom Bernanke, said at the weekend. Bernanke ago defended steps taken to bolster economic growth in the United States, this time at a central banking conference before a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers. The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low and made money more available to encourage domestic growth. China and other emer!jing markets have blamed the Federal Reserve s strategy for sending waves of capital rushing to their shores, creating a threat of inflation. But Bernanke said the influx of capital appeared to be driven more by investors' desire to get a higher return in emerging economies than by the his team's poliCies. He admonished emerging nations to acknowledge that they have "a strong interest in a continued economic recovery in the advanced economies," and said they should conSider deploying their own tools - including adjusting the level of their currency - to manage their economies and prevent overheating. Bernanke did not mention China in his remark but it appeared to be a veiled reference to Bei/'ing's policy of keeping its currency artificia Iy row to gain a trade advantage. As Bernanke spoke, Governor of People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, appeared on the same stage. The extent to which advanced economies are lagging emerging markets is a major preoccupation among policy makers here. United States Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, told the group that growth forecasts - about 5 to 7 percent in emerging markets, 3 to 4 percent in the United States, and 1 to 2 percent in Europe - this xear seemed accurate to him. But he asked: 'How do we get sustainable durable growth in the advanced economies?" Central Bank governors of Britain, France, japan and China as well as jean-Claude Trichet, governor of the European Central Bank, took turns to underscore their worries that die uneven nature of global growth could undermine the recovery. Mervyn King, governor of Bank of England, said China was pursuing structural reforms slowly while countries like the United States and Britain, faCing the prospect of high unemployment, favour a quicker adjustment path. There is a risk, he added, that this conflict will result in perSistently hi/lh levels of unemployment if advanced natIOns fall even further behind. Bernanke suggested that a way to address imbalances in global growth was for countries that export more than they import to allow their currencies to reflect overall economic per-
not feed adequately for their health and well being. "Built against this somber background, I want to set out a vision that is optimistic but achievable: where Africa can feed not only its own citizens but help meet the needs of the hungry cross the world. It is a vision, which requires us to transform agricultllfe on the continent by bUilding on the progress already underway. In doing so, we will also transform the prospects for Africa," Annan said. He noted that with good leadership and governance, the continent could utilise the innate potentials to feed the world in the face of growing food insecurity. Describing agriculture as the mainstay of the African economy, Annan said that four out of every five Africans depend on farming
Nwanze, however, disclosed that IFAD would soon roll out $70 billion value chain projects in 16 states across Nigeria with specifying the benefiting states. On the $500million scheme, the IFAD President said the body would be looking critically to assess how effective and properly executed the risk-sharing facility would be,
Unemployment May Soar - Gov" Bank of England We Will Grow Domestic Market - China formance. He also urged those with large trade defiCits to increase their savings and put their fiscal poliCies on more sustainable paths. He said countries maintaining undervalued currencies had "contributed to spending that's is unbalanced and unsustainable," which, together with surging demand in fast-groWing emerging markets, was fueling a worrisome rise in commodity prices.
and related activities for their families. According to him, overcoming the continent's agricultural challenges would provide the platform for Africa to meet its wider ambi· tions of prosperity and peace. IFAD President, Kanayo Nwanze, while answering questions from The Guardian, identified governance as major issue. He said Nigeria has not been able to optimise its potentials. Nwanze, however, disclosed that IFADwouid soon roll out $70 billion value chain projects in 16 states across Nigeria with specifying the benefiting states. On the $500million scheme, the IFAD President said the body would be lookingcrit· ically to assess how effective and properly execmed the risk-sharing facility would be.
"Spillovers can go both ways," Bernanke continued: "Resurgent demand in the emerging markets has contributed significantly to the sharp recent run-up in global commodity prices." Meanwhile, countries that have allowed market forces to determine the level of their money have been penalised by seeing their competitiveness erode, he said. Zhou later appeared to concede the point, to a degree. He noted that Chinese
exporters complained that they would all go out of businesses if the government were to allow The Rnminbi to rise by three per cent. "But then that happens and then they survive," he said, adding, "they have room to improve and survive." Policy makers in advanced economies have been calling on China to stoke demand from within its own country to balance its trade dominance. But Zhou said China was working on that. "One day we'll have a domestic market too, depending on price elastiCity," he said. China could also shift from an export-dominated manufacturing economy to a more service-oriented one to meet domestic needs. "But that would be slow, it would take \0 years at best," said Zhou.
From left: Member. Nigeria-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Tunde Ogungbile; India High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. S. K. Makhijanij and members of staff. Chellarams Pic,
during the envoys visit to the company's stand at the Indian exhibition in LagOSH. recentty.