Friday, October 10, 2008

Getting Specific on who's hurting with rising costs.

Yes, the rising cost of food and fuel have hurt the whole world, even you and me. In fact, the big banks have said that the increases will push another 100 million into poverty.

With meetings going on now with would financial leaders, lots of reports are beeing issued. This one caught our eye, that names specific countries that are the feeling the effects the worse.

from Reuters

Among the "fiscally vulnerable" countries are Jordan, Cambodia, Lebanon, Jamaica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Fiji, Haiti, Seychelles and Mauritania.


The report, published ahead of weekend International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings of finance and development ministers, said many of these countries had little or no room to take on new debt to afford the higher prices.

It said resource-rich developing countries had the means to cushion the current account impact of costlier food and fuel. But inflation is rising and they could be afflicted by "Dutch disease," a phenomenon in which high revenues from natural resources lead to a strengthening of a currency.

"Over recent weeks, attention has focused on the size of financial package, and on the impact on Main Street," Zoellick told a news conference ahead of the meetings.

"There are Main Streets all over the world. We must look beyond the financial rescue to the human rescue," he added.

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