International Monetary Fund

The Bush administration on Wednesday was downplaying the role of biofuels production in rising food prices. The debate involves questions of blame for rapidly inflating prices for staple crops that have led to famine and riots in many parts of the world. Some economists and food scientists have argued that biofuel production should be scaled back because it is a major factor in rising food costs, particularly corn.

“Much like the time leading up to World War I, coalitions and regional blocs could form to contest American supremacy. If one of these entities could consolidate its power quickly enough, a new bipolar world could emerge. Potentially, China, a pan-Arab coalition, or a unified European Union (EU) could become this new superpower.”--Robert DeYeso. Newer World Order The Return to a Multipolar Era 2006

The mounting global credit crisis could develop into a financial "contagion" and could wipe $800 billion of value from the books of US and global financial institutions, an official of the International Monetary Fund said.

The euro is overvalued and the European Central Bank needs a political counterweight to compensate for the fact that is it ”ultra-powerful”, the head of International Monetary Fund was quoted as saying on Monday. IMF director general Dominique Strauss-Kahn praised the ECB for containing inflation, but told Le Monde newspaper that eurozones countries needed to appoint a political supremo to make sure economic growth was promoted. ”The problem with the euro is that the European Central Bank, which does a good job controlling inflation, is ultra-powerful,” Strauss-Kahn was quoted as saying.

The United States supports a plan for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to sell part of its gold reserves to shore up the multilateral institution's finances, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

There is rising concern that the US economy will slip into recession next year dragging many economies - including Britain - down with it as the global credit crisis worsens. The Washington-based International Monetary Fund has warned of a 'perfect storm' caused by surging oil prices and the turbulence on financial markets.

It seems that worries over China dumping its reserves of a trillion, or so, American dollars are just the tip of a much larger iceberg. Sovereign wealth funds, opaque investment funds controlled by cash-rich governments like China, Abu Dhabi and Russia, are set to buy more emerging markets currencies, at the expense of their more established counterparts. In other words these funds, which have reserves totaling $2.3 trillion, are set to sell off more American dollars, euros and British pounds.