Rich nations must increase aid to Bangladesh as the impoverished country struggles to cope with sky-rocketing prices of food, a senior United Nations official said Wednesday.
"The real issue is protecting the vulnerable from these shocks," said Kemal Dervis, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) administrator and the third highest ranking official in the UN, said after a three-day visit to Bangladesh.
"The international community cannot leave these huge world events unattended," he said, adding the world "including the oil-rich countries, should increase support to Bangladesh."
Rising food prices have become a big concern for most people in Bangladesh, where about 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and poor households spend nearly 70 percent of their income on food items. In December, annual food inflation in Bangladesh reached 16 percent, and prices of rice has doubled in the past year, according to the government's Food Planning and Monitoring Unit.
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