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May 07, 2008 20:10 IST
The Asian Development Bank [Get Quote] has announced budgetary support of $500 million to tackle rising food costs in the Asia-Pacific region.
This will help governments alleviate the fiscal burden so that they can bring food to the table of the vulnerable, poor and needy.
These resources could also be used to import food grains and agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said at the closing conference of annual meet in Madrid, Spain.
The Manila-based multi-lateral funding agency also pledged to double lending to $2 billion for agriculture in 2009.
The donors have already pledged a whopping $11.3 billion for Asian Development Fund, up 60 per cent from the previous period.
The bank noted that more than one billion people in the region are seriously impacted by the rise in food price as food expenditure accounts for 60 per cent of total expenditure in the region.
Food and energy together account for more than 75 per cent of total spending of the poor in the region, it said.
While pointing out that policy measures supporting open trade and distribution of basic commodities were required, Kuroda said, the situation demands early responses by governments with targeted programmes that provide direct assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable."
The next ADB's annual meeting will be held in Bali, Indonesia in May 2009.
Inflation, the silent killer
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