India puts onus for global inflation on rich nations

Chandra Shekhar
Hanoi, May 4 (PTI) India Wednesday blamed rich
countries for rising food and energy prices, stating inability
of their regulators has led to massive financial inflows into
commodity markets for higher returns.
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said "rising
international commodity prices are not all explainable by
supply or demand shocks or shortfalls" and asked the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) to do some more "home work" on the
issue.
Mukherjee was addressing finance ministers of the
SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) on
the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the ADB.
"They (rising prices) are result of inability of
regulators and that of monetary policy in richer countries to
control the unabated massive financial inflows into global
commodity markets in search of higher returns," he said.
Mukherjee said these financial factors are doing the
world much harm, especially the poor. "We need better
governance and regulatory oversights of these markets,"
he said.
In a separate meeting, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda
said that Asia must play greater responsibility in global
economic and financial affairs "by playing a more proactive
role in designing an effective multilateral framework that
promotes global monetary and financial stability".
According to an ADB study a 10 per cent rise in
domestic food prices in developing Asia, home to 3.3 billion
people, could push an additional 64 million people, into
extreme poverty based on the USD 1.25 a day poverty line.