4:25 PM
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following are highlights of comments by financial leaders attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings on Saturday.
WORLD BANK PRESIDENT ROBERT ZOELLICK
ON RISING FOOD PRICES
"Of particular concern is food prices. This is the biggest threat today to the world's poor, where we risk losing a generation. ... Already 44 million people have fallen into poverty as a result of rising food prices over the last year. We estimate that a further 10 percent rise in the food price index could push 10 million more people into poverty."
ON THE MIDDLE EAST
"Policy will be as important as money. We must act now. Waiting for the situation to stabilize will mean lost opportunities. In revolutionary moments, the status quo is not a winning hand."
MEXICAN CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR AUGUSTIN CARSTENS
(in interview with Reuters)
ON IMPACT OF U.S. SOFTNESS
"The indicator to which Mexico has a closer correlation is industrial production. And as the recent figures show, industrial production in the U.S. is performing relatively well. So even though I acknowledge that there have been some mixed figures about the U.S. economy, we still are optimistic about the evolution of the Mexican economy."
ON RISING ENERGY COSTS
"The pricing rule that Mexico follows for gasoline sort of eliminates some of the volatility from our CPI so that's one advantage that we have. But especially in grains and other food items volatility is very important for us because food is a very high component of our CPI."
ON RATES OUTLOOK
"We are following a very cautious approach. If we see that commodity prices are not only having a one-off impact on CPI but is affecting in a more fundamental way the dynamics of price setting in Mexico and is also feeding into inflationary expectations, at that point we might decide to adjust our monetary policy stance."
GREEK FINANCE MINISTER GEORGE PAPACONSTANTINOU:
ON RECOVERY:
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