Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 2.5
Indicators of ability to use international markets to ensure food security
All six
Period
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Pakistan
Philippines
Vietnam
countries
Foreign exchange reserves (million US$)
1960s
—
422
59
188
100
—
192
1970s
241
2,938
1,859
322
1,429
—
1,358
1980s
463
4,171
4,735
747
1,059
—
2,235
1990s
1,892
19,598
16,628
1,297
7,630
2,292
8,223
2001-03
1,843
69,954
30,848
7,468
13,213
4,668
21,332
Share of cereal import value to foreign
exchange reserves (percent)
1960s
—
151.26
285.21
37.81
56.02
—
132.58
1970s
142.72
49.91
37.56
42.08
10.17
—
56.49
1980s
72.64
6.32
8.21
29.22
28.54
—
28.99
1990s
20.21
0.96
7.31
33.97
7.59
0.05
11.68
2001
21.47
0.00
2.64
0.98
4.49
0.03
4.94
Import capacity (index: 1995 = 100)
1970
24.33
19.31
6.55
52.39
23.36
—
25.2
1975-80
13.81
29.18
37.93
38.39
30.34
—
29.9
1980s
26.69
46.43
51.80
48.61
49.10
27.46
41.7
1990s
97.04
107.04
101.52
97.41
105.84
87.76
99.4
2001
168.22
179.29
119.41
104.76
144.90
—
143.3
SOURCES
: World Bank (2003); IMF (2004).
NOTES
: An “s” after the year reflects the average for the decade. — indicates not available.
seriously when it embarked on policy reforms. The guiding principle was that
lifting restrictions would change the incentive structure (getting prices right)
and help markets develop through greater private-sector participation. But the
government kept playing the legitimate public roles—that is, protecting the sec-
tion of the population that is vulnerable to climatic shocks and resides in geo-
graphically disadvantaged regions. These issues are further highlighted in the
concluding section of this volume.
But the Old Ways Continue in Most Countries
The previous section has demonstrated that, at the aggregate level, the key jus-
tifications for public intervention have lost significance over the past 30 years.
Policies have changed, too, but these responses have differed across countries.
This section provides an account of these varied changes, focusing on two as-
pects: (1) policies designed to facilitate parastatals' operations and (2) the
changes in the size and scale of their operations.
