World Bank, IMF, foreign ministers squabble over biofuels, food policy

In Washington, a group of Finance ministers at World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings exchanged sharp words over biofuels as food riots continue to erupt in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ethiopia, and troops are guarding food stocks in Pakistan and Thailand. “It’s a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels,” said India’s finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, while the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality said biofuels are only a part of the food price equation.

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