Food crisis looming

The head of the Asian Development Bank on Monday called for an "immediate response" to soaring food prices which he said placed more than a billion Asians at risk of malnutrition.

ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda also warned that the food problem could cut into decades of economic gains in the Asia-Pacific region.

"These are troubling times for the world economy. On the heels of turmoil in the financial markets and economic slowdown in the US and elsewhere, soaring food prices are hitting the poor very hard," he said.

"This price surge has a stark human dimension and has greatly affected over a billion people in Asia and the Pacific alone. Their purchasing power has been eroded, placing them at a greater risk of hunger and malnutrition."

He said stocks of food grains were at the lowest levels for decades.

Reduced supplies and increased demand, along with the sharp depreciation of the US dollar and trade restrictions by some countries have combined to cause the price spike in recent months, Kuroda said.

"The focus must now be on the soaring prices and our immediate response," he said.

He called for "prudent macroeconomic management" along with targeted income support to protect food entitlements and livelihoods of the most vulnerable.

"The absence of such measures could seriously undermine the global fight against poverty and erode the gains of the past decades," he said.

"The ADB is prepared to respond with immediate financial assistance to relieve fiscal pressure on affected countries," Kuroda said.