Press office & press releases | World Development Movement

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Press office & press releases

The WDM press office deals with all media enquiries.

Contact the WDM press office

Miriam Ross, media officer
Tel: 020 7820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345
Email: miriam.ross@wdm.org.uk

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Latest press releases

UK lends ‘climate loan’ to heavily indebted Jamaica

4 November 2011

UK money will be used for a ‘climate loan’ to Jamaica, increasing its already heavy debt burden, following a decision by the World Bank this week.

Campaigners have condemned the loan, which will drive the Caribbean nation deeper into poverty. Jamaica’s foreign debt stands at $2,500 per person, and the country spends $1.2 billion a year on debt repayments. The government’s foreign-owed debts are 55 per cent of national income, making it's debt burden one of the heaviest in the world.[1]

Occupy London inspires protest against Goldman Sachs’ betting on hunger

26 October 2011

Protest and photo call: Anti-poverty campaigners and activists from Occupy London will stage a human casino outside Goldman Sachs highlighting how the bank’s betting on food prices is fuelling global hunger.

When: 12.15-12.30pm, Thursday 27 October

Where: Goldman Sachs, 133 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BB

EU financial reform plans will not curb soaring food prices

20 October 2011

Plans for EU financial reform to be announced today are expected to be insufficient to tackle soaring global food prices, say campaigners from the World Development Movement.

450 economists call on G20 finance ministers to stop speculation fuelling hunger

11 October 2011

More than 450 economists from over 40 countries have called on the G20 finance ministers, who are meeting in Paris this week, to take urgent action to stop financial speculation in commodity markets driving up food prices and fuelling hunger. 

Regulators’ rules ‘too weak’ to tackle speculation on food

15 September 2011

International financial regulators have called today for tighter controls on financial speculation in commodity markets, but anti-poverty campaigners the World Development Movement have branded the regulators’ rules as ‘too weak’, saying they will not tackle the growing hunger and poverty caused by speculation on food prices.

‘Broken’ markets driving up food prices as bread soars

13 September 2011

‘Broken’ financial markets are driving up food prices, reveals a new report released today, as inflation figures show UK consumers are now paying over seven per cent more for bread than a year ago.[1]

Donations to crisis appeals buy half as much food as in 2001

28 July 2011

The World Development Movement has called for urgent measures to regulate financial speculation on food prices in the wake of the Horn of Africa famine, revealing that the price of food aid has doubled since 2001.

The World Food Programme paid $390 per tonne of food last year, compared with $200 in 2001. On Monday the organisation said it needed an extra $360 million in order to tackle the crisis now affecting more than 12 million people.

Developing country groups slam UK’s climate loans

27 June 2011

Groups from 13 developing countries have today slammed UK climate loans, set to be agreed in South Africa this week. The loans are to be given through the World Bank.

Community leaders in countries including Nepal, Bangladesh, Mozambique and Yemen have written to British cabinet ministers Chris Huhne and Andrew Mitchell rejecting the loans the UK is providing to their countries to help them cope with climate change.

G20 fails to tackle food price speculation

23 June 2011

An action plan supposed to address food insecurity launched today by the G20 agriculture ministers has been criticised by campaigners, who say it fails to fully address the root causes of volatile food prices, including financial speculation, which is driving up prices.

Anti-poverty group the World Development Movement said that opposition from countries including the UK had led to the watering down of proposals that could have seen countries commit to setting limits on speculators’ share of the market.

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

Speculative frenzy is hurting consumers warns charity

14 June 2011

The World Development Movement has warned that a new ‘summer of speculation’ is fuelling record food prices, as new figures show that financial betting on maize prices has contributed to a doubling in the cost of corn over the past year. 



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