|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rising Indian food inflation hampering Philippines
|
|
Thursday, 04 February, 2010, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Our Bureau, Mumbai
|
Philippines, the world's largest rice importer, said that it feared global food prices would spike this year as India suffers its worst drought in nearly four decades. Rising food prices and inflation in India is also putting the country down.
"There's been a big drought in India which affected half of its territory and which may affect global food prices and in Philippines," economic planning undersecretary Dennis Arroyo said.
Arroyo listed the Indian dry spell as among the potential obstacles to a full Philippine recovery this year from the global financial crisis, which dragged its economic growth last year to an 11-year low 0.9 per cent.
He noted that Philippines, like India a huge rice consumer, was among the worst nations hit in 2008 when the global prices of the grain spiked to 34-year highs.
Philippines is expected to ramp up rice imports this year after two devastating tropical storms in September and October 2009 trimmed annual farm output growth to 0.1 per cent. "In 2008 you had the global food and fuel crisis. In 2009 we had the financial crisis. Now we're seeing a global climate crisis. The world is vulnerable to this," Arroyo added.
Low rains had ravaged the country's rice, cane sugar and groundnut crops.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|