Buffer Stocks against Inflation

Worldwide, price spikes and price volatility have been a major problem not only since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Food price inflation reduces the real income of the population and thus increases social inequality. According to the United Nations, for every percentage point that food prices increase, ten million people are driven into extreme poverty.

In a new study commissioned by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and TMG Research, economist Isabella Weber argues for the establishment of public buffer stocks for food as an instrument to reduce price and volume fluctuations and to stabilize global markets. Public buffer stocks for food can not only regulate prices for producers and consumers, but also help to limit general inflation. Furthermore, with the right incentives, public procurement for the food stocks can contribute to the transformation of food systems in the medium and long term.

What political and legal hurdles would need to be overcome to introduce public buffer stocks for food? What would the implementation of public buffer stocks for food mean in practice for importing and exporting countries? How do the German government, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) assess the proposal?

We will discuss these and other questions with:

• Isabella Weber, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
• Martin Frick, Director Global Office Germany, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
• Anastasia Nesvetailova, Head of Macroeconomics and Political Development Department at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• Dirk Meyer, Director of Department Multilateral Development Policy, Transformation, Climate, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Sílvio Porto, Director of Agricultural Policy and Information at the National Supply Company of Brazil CONAB
• Moderation: Jan Urhahn, Programme Director Food Sovereignty, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

The event will be held in German, Portuguese and English with simultaneous interpretation.

An event jointly organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, TMG Research and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

Participation on site: At the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin

Please register here. Unfortunately, the number of seats is limited. Should the room capacity be exhausted, we will transmit the conference via video to other rooms. We would like to point out that there is no entitlement to a seat in the room.

Alternatively, you can follow the event via the livestream without registering.