The World Bank has warned that it expects the cost of staple foods such as rice to stay high for years. But it also said the world's food markets were intact and needed no intervention.
'This is not a few weeks, few months thing. It could be two or three years,' World Bank managing director Juan Jose Daboub told reporters after a speech at a Singapore university.
He said global food markets were working and had not lost their ability 'to fix themselves'.
Mr Daboub, a former finance minister of El Salvador, said 100 million people had been pushed back into poverty over the last two years due to higher food costs. He also said that food prices doubling for three years was equivalent to going back seven years in the fight against poverty.
'The key element in any longer-term solution will be to increase global food production,' he said.
