Food & Aid for the Philippines

Rice (Oryza sativa)

The World Bank, Philippinos, and LCG are providing aid to the Philippines:

World Bank raises annual aid to Philippines by 31 per cent

Wed, Jul 15, 2009 AFP

MANILA, PHILLIPINES – The World Bank Wednesday said it had increased development aid to the Philippines by almost a third, with an eye on easing the burden of high food costs on the country’s poor.

The Bank will lend 320 million dollars for fiscal year 2009, an increase of 31 percent from the previous year.

It said 200 million dollars of that will support the national budget in stabilising over the short- and medium-term the price of rice, the staple food, a year after export prices surged to near 30-year highs.

“Fiscal year 2009 was particularly challenging as the Philippines and the rest of the world were hit by shocks coming from the global food crisis and the global financial meltdown,” World Bank country director Bert Hofman said. http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Business/Story/A1Story20090715-155002.html

Filipinos overseas sent record $1.48B home in May

Associated Press, 07.15.09

MANILA, Philippines — Money sent home by Filipino workers overseas grew 3.7 percent in May to a record high of $1.48 billion, defying the World Bank’s forecast of a drop in remittances this year because of the global economic crunch. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/15/ap6656312.html http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/15/ap6656312.html

Disaster Relief Fund

As announced in last week’s The World Ahead, the Tungro Disease has destroyed this year’s rice crops in Maranding, Philippines. This has affected several Church families by taking away their sustenance. They are in desperate need of emergency assistance for survival. The Church is in the process of transferring money from the Disaster Relief Fund to provide support to these families for the next four months. We are also reviewing a request for assistance from our African brethren in Kenya because of food and water shortages there… If you want to contribute to the Disaster Relief Fund, please send your donations payable to the Living Church of God, to the Headquarters Office in Charlotte, and clearly label them on the memo line for the “Disaster Relief Fund.”

There are serious problems now, but some areas not doing well now (like the Philippines) will likely improve. However, areas with plenty of food like the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand will find more extreme food shortages in the not too distant future.

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