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US disputes IMF on food prices
Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Edward Lazear
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Bush administration is disputing the International Monetary Fund's claim that increased production of biofuels is the biggest factor in rising food prices. The IMF estimates that the shift of crops out of the food supply to produce biofuels accounts for almost half of the recent increases in the global food prices. Rising food prices have made hunger problems in developing countries even more critical of late. But the administration's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Edward Lazear, says that biofuel production has played a small part. The United States has mandated increased production of ethanol from corn to reduce oil consumption. Lazear told a congressional hearing Wednesday that ethanol production accounts for only about 1.2 percent of increases in food prices over the last year.

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