The World Bank has warned that rising food prices, driven partly by rising fuel costs, are pushing millions of people into extreme poverty.
World food prices are 36 per cent above levels of a year ago, driven by problems in the Middle East and North Africa, and remain volatile, the bank said.
That has pushed 44 million people into poverty since last June.
A further ten per cent rise would push ten million more below the extreme poverty line of $1.25 (76p) a day, the bank said.
And it warned that a 30 per cent cost hike in the price of staples could lead to 34 million more poor people.
The World Bank estimates there are about 1.2 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day.
“More poor people are suffering and more people could become poor because of high and volatile food prices,” said World Bank president Robert Zoellick. (BBC)
