Asia Sentinel, 29 Apr 2009, Alice Poon
If the global food shortage crisis has made consumers in developed countries feel the sting of surging food prices, it can at the same time be a direct cause of malnutrition and starvation for people in poor countries.
Some economists tell us that we are in for a protracted deflationary period. Others tell us that rampant inflation is what we should expect. But a trip to the supermarket these days does tell us that retail food prices have generally shot up by double-digit percentages. Yet consumer price indices that governments (at least those in North America) announce seem incredibly tame. While consumers in developed countries are still silently bearing food price surges with a reluctant grin, the picture will not be pretty if their income levels keep deteriorating and unemployment keeps rising.
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