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WB Executive Director Suggests to Join Efforts in Addressing Global World Crisis

Business Materials 9 June 2008 13:07 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 9 June/ corr. Trend I. Khalilova/ The World Bank (WB) suggests the use of global institutions in addressing global situations in the world economy, Ngozi Okono Ivela, the managing director of WB said in the 12th International Economic Forum in the St.Petersburg.

The prices of foodstuffs and energy carriers sharply increased for the last months because of the rise in expenditures of fertilizer, fall in dollar rate and increase in the bio fuel production. The policy of the United States and the European Union toward the bio fuel production is the key factor contributing to the price rise in foodstuffs for the last two years, Ivela said.

"The recent price rise has especially affected the poor countries. WB called on to develop new course for the global foodstuff policy which includes measures for short-term, medium-term and long-term perspective," the WB managing director said.

The Bank has granted $1.2bln, as well as $4-$6bln worth loan, to assist the poor countries.

"We are working with the countries and are developing policy of measures to address the global crisis," the managing director of WB said.

She believes that it is important for OECD countries to do their best to introduce subsidies to the farmers in various world countries, which will enable to address food problems with joint efforts.

"The search for the way out of the problem within the country and to continue our way of addressing food problems is unlikely to yield any results. It can be expedient in short term perspective, but from the political viewpoint, it can affect the long-term development of the countries and their interests from development viewpoint," she said.

According to Ivela, in the short term perspective Russia can contribute in meeting urgent needs of food by acting as a donor country. Russia is also one of the world countries where the recent upheaval in the food market opens opportunities to put up the production and to strengthen the domestic agriculture for long term and short term perspective.

As to the world liquidity crisis in the United States, she stated that it will yield bad results in the future as it is moving to the emerging markets, taking into consideration the large scale of the US economy.

She also touched upon the third world problem -rise in the emission of greenhouse gases to the environment by the East Europe and the CIS, which ceased it in the 1990s but resumed once again as a result of economic growth. In 2005, Russia was third to the US and China for the emission of hydrocarbon. The demands to cut down hydrocarbon emissions will further grow, however the transfer to the low hydrocarbon economy is impeded by the huge financial expenses, the managing director of WB said.

The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

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