THE GLOBAL RECESSION COMPOUNDS THE FOOD CRISIS

摘要

As is well known, the sharp increase in the prices of food commodities between April 2007 and May 2008 (chart 1.A1) had dramatic consequences for many developing countries. The greatest impact was on low-income countries, where poor households spend a large proportion of their income on food, and which are strongly dependent on food imports. The prices of wheat, maize, rice and soybeans all peaked between March and July 2008, but then fell steeply until the end of the year. In early 2009, wheat and maize prices stabilized at their 2007 levels and rice prices at their early 2008 level.