Central banks warn of inflation

This is no time for central banks to be "complacent", Mr Trichet said.

Rising food prices pose "significant" inflationary risks around the world, a meeting of central bankers has warned.

The "very important phenomenon", came on top of rising energy, metal and commodity prices, said the group's chair, Jean-Claude Trichet.

The price of some staple foods has trebled, but to combat inflation, countries should resist protectionism and keep markets open, he said.

The issue was top of the agenda at the gathering in Basel, Switzerland.

"We as central banks are calling for as competitive as possible markets, both in our own economies and at a global level," said Mr Trichet, who is president of the European Central Bank.

"We trust that highly competitive markets and open economies are playing against inflation. It is true for food as for other products and services."

A number of rice-producing countries have recently discussed forming a cartel to give them more control of prices. Some exporters have also restricted supply to other nations.

Emerging growth

The price of some staple foods has tripled this year, but the rising cost of food has nothing to do with speculators, Mr Trichet said, adding it was a simple case of demand outweighing supply.

"I don't think there was any sense that speculation was at the source of what we were observing," he said.

Economies in both industrialised and emerging nations were experiencing significant inflationary risk, he stated.

But when it came to economic growth, the central bankers at the meeting observed that it was the emerging markets who were keeping the global economy growing.

"Growth at a global level ... will remain significant despite the slowing down that is observed in a number of industrial economies," Mr Trichet said.

"Thanks to the remarkable confirmed resilience of emerging economies we see ongoing growth at a global level, even if it is growth that is somewhat lower than in the previous period."