DHAKA (Reuters) - Donor nations should increase financial assistance to developing countries such as Bangladesh to cope with rising food and oil prices, the head of the United Nations Development Programme said on Wednesday.
Kemal Dervis made the appeal at the end of a visit toBangladesh to review programmes for rehabilitation of millionsof people hit by a cyclone last year.
"Support from oil-rich countries, as well as other donors,could have positive benefits for Bangladesh and other lowerincome countries," Dervis said in a statement.
Edible oil and food prices have increased by 100 percentover the past one year in Bangladesh.
State-subsidised petroleum products also rose 22 percent.
Around 40 percent of Bangladesh's 140 million people livebelow the poverty line, spending nearly 70 percent of theirincome on food items.
Dervis said that Bangladesh needed international aid evenmore "because it was also struggling to establish democracy inthe country."
"What happens here is particularly important to the peopleof Bangladesh, but a successful democratic Bangladesh that canovercome political and economic difficulties is an example toother lower income countries, to the Muslim World, and manyother countries facing similar problems," Dervis said.
Bangladesh, which is currently led by an army-backedinterim administration, plans to hold elections later this yearafter completing a crackdown on corruption in the impoverishednation.
In December, annual food inflation in Bangladesh reached 16percent, according to official data.
(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Writing by Anis Ahmed; Editingby Sanjeev Miglani)
