April 18 - World Bank head warns of threat from food crisis

World Bank president Robert Zoellick has warned the world is ‘one shock away from a full blown crisis’ and cited soaring food prices as a major threat to the global economy.

He said poorer nations risked ‘losing a generation’ because of food price inflation. Speaking in Washington after meetings between the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Zoellick said support from the bank would be vital to stability in the Middle East.

‘The crisis in the Middle East and North Africa underscores how we need to put the conclusions from our latest world development report into practice. The report highlighted the importance of citizen security, justice and jobs,’ he said.

‘Waiting for the situation to stabilise will mean lost opportunities. In revolutionary moments the status quo is not a winning hand.’

‘It is probably too much to say that it’s a jobless recovery, but it’s certainly a recovery with not enough jobs,’ he said. ‘Especially because of youth unemployment there is now a risk that this will be turned into a life sentence and that there is a possibility of a lost generation.’