LONDON - BRITISH leader Gordon Brown wants quick action to tackle higher food prices, saying the world faces the first financial crisis of the new era of globalisation, according to an advance copy of a speech.
Mr Brown said the international community should urgently examine the impact of biofuels on the cost of food and wants international aid for some food importing countries.
'People will probably look back to say this is the first financial crisis of this new era of globalisation,' Mr Brown will tell a group of invited guests at Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, according to the prepared text.
He will say the global financial system had fallen victim to the 'under-pricing and under-reporting of risk' and 'inadequate credit rating services.'
The prime minister also blames inflationary pressures from global commodity prices, explaining that oil, coal and gas prices were up 60 per cent and that wheat and rice prices had doubled.
Mr Brown says he wants to boost agricultural production in developing countries through a 'trade for aid' package and to evaluate the consequences of the increasing use of biofuels, which many economists blame for helping jack up food prices worldwide. -- AP
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