Economic policy makers from all corners of the word ended their meeting in in Washington with a call for assistance to countries most affected by a recent sharp rise in food prices.
来自世界各个地区的经济政策决策者们结束了他们在华盛顿举行的会议。他们呼吁对那些受食品价格最近急剧上升影响最严重的国家提供援助。
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said help is needed for countries in which sharply higher food prices are causing hunger. Many grain prices have nearly doubled in the past year and the impact is particularly severe in impoverished countries like Haiti and Bangladesh. Zoellick said a 500 million dollar emergency feeding program will be set up.
世界银行行长佐利克说，粮食价格急剧上涨造成饥饿的国家需要得到援助。许多种粮食价格在过去的一年里上涨接近一倍，一些严重贫困的国家，如海地和孟加拉国，受到的影响尤其严重。佐利克说，将设立一个5亿美元的紧急提供食品的计划。
"We have to put our money where our mouth is," said Robert Zoellick. "Now. So that we can put food into hungry mouths. It's as stark as that."
他说：“我们应该把我们的钱放到需要粮食的地方。现在，我们要把粮食放到饥饿的嘴里，就这么简单”。
International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who participated in the Sunday meeting of the World Bank's Development Committee, warned that the inflationary effect of higher food prices could push millions back into poverty.
国际货币基金会总裁多米尼克 .施特劳斯.卡恩参加了星期天举行的世界银行发展委员会的会议。他警告说，食品价格提高导致通货膨胀，可能使数以百万计的人陷入贫困。
"All that has been done [achieved over the past decade] can be undone very rapidly by the crisis coming from the increase in food prices," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
他说：“我们（过去十年）所取得的成果有可能因为食品价格上涨导致的危机而毁于一旦。”
In Asia rice prices have risen by more than 75 percent in less than three months and some rice exporting countries have placed restrictions on foreign sales.
在亚洲，大米的价格在不到3个月的时间里上涨了75%以上，一些大米出口国已经限制出口。
Policymakers who came to Washington for this previously scheduled meeting of the IMF and World Bank governing body were sobered by the sudden deterioration in the world economic outlook. Growth has slowed to its slowest pace in five years while food and energy prices continued to rise. Lenders are less willing to take risks in the aftermath of the mortgage loan problem that surfaced in the United States eight months ago.
到华盛顿来参加这次事先计划中的国际货币基金和世界银行指导委员会会议的各国政策官员，面对世界经济突然恶化的前景感到情势的严峻。世界经济增长率下降到五年来的最低点，而粮食和能源价格却在继续上涨。自从美国8个月前开始出现买房贷款危机后，借贷机构不再像原来那么愿意贷款。
While some developing countries are cutting back, oil exporting nations are reaping windfall profits from the quadrupling of oil prices in the past five years. World Bank president Zoellick wants some of that oil wealth to be invested in Africa.
与此同时，一些发展中国家正在减少石油消费，而石油出口国家却在大发横财，5年来石油价格增长了4倍，给这些国家带来巨大的利润。世界银行行长佐利克希望把部分石油财富投资到非洲国家。
"The allocation of even one percent of the assets of sovereign wealth funds [investment funds, many of which are based in the Middle East] to equity investments in Africa could draw $30 billion to African development, growth and opportunity," he said.
他说：“即使拿出1%的主权财富基金对非洲进行资产投资，也可以为非洲的发展、增长和机会提供300亿美元的集资。”
The IMF and World Bank also called for more supervision of financial markets and a successful conclusion of the latest round of global talks aimed at removing barriers to trade.
国际货币基金会和世界银行还呼吁对金融市场增加监督，并且希望最新一轮试图消除贸易壁垒的世界会谈取得成功。 |