MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina satisfied with G20 proposal to stimulate food production

Minister Amado Boudou: regulating food prices is a hurdle to production

Argentina is satisfied with the outcome of the G-20 ministerial meeting after the proposal to regulate commodities prices was turned down, particularly in the food chapter, and because it was agreed that the best way to address current tensions is to stimulate supply.

“The final declaration is quite clear as to which is the path to follow…” said Argentine Economy minister Amado Boudou and that is: “to increase the supply of food stuffs”.

During the press conference following the consensus reached over the weekend in Paris Boudou underlined that “it’s clear that regulating prices is a hurdle to increase production and meet the growing world demand for food commodities”.

Referring to the agreement reached by the members of the G20 over the evaluations on global economic policies, Boudou assured that they “are happy that this kind of debates is useful to progress.”

Boudou also revealed that there’s a “consensus to limit speculative operations” in commodities’ markets, particularly future trading with the purpose of a better regulation of financial markets.

The G20 meeting in Paris took place in the framework of the French insistence on combating commodity prices volatility, which has become a serious challenge because of the sustained escalation of oil, minerals and food prices.

During the G20 round Brazil and Argentina, large food exporters, rejected point blank the French proposal which could have led to international mechanisms to control prices.

The final Paris communiqué states the need for agriculture long term investment in developing countries, “improve dialogue between suppliers and consumers” and advance “in the regulation and monitoring of commodities derivates markets” with greater transparency and avoiding abuses.

Boudou also praised the G20 position regarding credit rating agencies since “it is essential that these agencies have a lesser significance at the moment of promoting capital influxes”.

He said that Argentina coincided with France that a new consensus is emerging that these agencies have played “an excessive role”.

Boudou pointed out that the communiqué has underlined “on the parameters for a new world monetary order”, and therefore it are most encouraging that there’s a consensus to integrate more currencies to a world basket that would eventually replace the US dollar as the only global reserve currency.