Danny Leipziger, the World Bank's vice president for poverty reduction and economic management, told Reuters, yesterday that the sharp hike in world oil and food prices is “not a short-term cycle issue.” 

Adding the World Bank to the growing chorus of international agencies voicing concern about the emerging food crisis, Leipziger was quoted as saying: 

“It has reached a critical stage where you do have food riots in a dozen countries or some related disturbance…. The research part of the World Bank tends to think this is not a short-term cycle issue, that this is a structural issue for reasons of global demand, for reasons of what is happening in biofuels and oil prices, and this is likely to be sustained for a number of years."

Leipziger expressed concern about 30 to 40 developing nations that could be severely impacted by rising food costs.  He said, “Particularly in countries that have made progress in terms of poverty reduction, we don't want to see this crisis put people back and undo the progress that has been made.”

Despite the very vocal concerns now being expressed about the food crisis by UN agencies, including WFP and FAO, I do have to wonder how many people on Capitol Hill are really listening.  Now, if we could only tie it to the sub-prime mortage crisis....