World Bank: Grain prices higher than average until 2015

WASHINGTON- The prices of grains are expected to remain higher than average until at least 2015, while costs for some basic foods are nearing the peaks of 2008, the World Bank (WB) said ahead of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting on February 18-19, in Paris.

High on the agenda of the G20, volatile food prices should be the “top priority,” stressed World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.

Up to 1.2 billion people live below poverty line worldwide, with an income of $1.25 or less per day, and more than 60 percent of the world’s hungry are women, he said.

“When faced with high food prices, poor households eat cheaper, less nutritious food and/or stop using health and education services.”