tailieunhanh - POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT NETWORK (PREM)

The growth experience of India and other South Asian countries suggests that a “Service Revolution”—rapid income growth, job creation, gender equality, and poverty reduction led by services—is now possible. What is a service revolution? Can services be as dynamic as manufacturing? Can latecomers to development take advantage of the globalization of services? Can services be a driver of sustained growth, job creation, and poverty reduction? What kind of policies and institutions do developing countries need to benefit from services-led growth?. | THE WORLD BANK POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT NETWORK PREM wVi I - Economic Premise NOVEMBER 2011 Number 69 Food Financial Crises and Complex Derivatives A Tale of High Stakes Innovation and Diversification Vera Songwe The 2008 food price crisis was an integral part of the financial crisis. In fact the food price crisis was the second crisis in a chain of events that began in 2007with the mortgage crisis and culminated in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Contrary to what was generally believed in 2008 developing countries particularly food-importing countries were part of the early wave of the financial crisis via food price increases and later suffered another wave via the real sector. The events leading up to the food crisis were global and complex in nature. As a result as the G-20 discusses solutions to the financial crisis any new framework must include developing countries especially low-income countries. In addition developing countries especially in Africa must pay close attention to the work of the Financial Stability Board FSB and its recommendations on financial market reform and over-the-counter OTC derivatives in particular because these reforms will have important consequences for their housing food fuel financial markets and ultimately their growth and poverty reduction objectives. In the summer of 2008 food prices which had been rising steeply over the last year reached historic highs. The prices of wheat and rice doubled corn prices more than tripled. The rapid rise in food prices in 2007-8 led to social unrest and or civil conflict in over 40 countries. Meanwhile during 2008-9 the number of hungry people increased globally from around 896 million to over billion in 2010 it dropped to 925 million FAO and WFP 2009 . 1 As a result of these developments attainment of the Millennium Development Goals MDGs especially MDG1 to halve poverty by 2015 which was in sight for a number of low-income countries LICs in .