Publication

Using the recent period of rising food commodities prices, this paper examines the policy dilemmas and challenges faced by developing country governments when confronted with volatile food prices. It begins with a summary of the main drivers of the acceleration in food price increases especially since 2004. The paper goes on to show that rising food prices caused significant inflationary pressures and increased poverty in many countries throughout the developing world. Section three discusses a sample of the complex policy dilemmas and challenges governments in developing countries face. Section four presents concluding remarks.