Emergency funding for Latin America announced

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With soaring food prices triggering unrest and threatening Latin America’s economic progress, the Inter-American Development Bank today announced an emergency credit line for countries in the region, The Times’ Nicole Gaouette reports from Washington.

The $500-million fund will support projects that improve agricultural productivity, invest in rural areas, improve distribution and strengthen programs designed to improve health and encourage education.

Recent Times stories have highlighted some of the food shortage problems that Latin America is experiencing -- see these dispatches from Haiti and Nicaragua earlier this month.

The BBC reported Tuesday that the Mexican government is taking matters into its own hands by announcing that it will give its poorest citizens a monthly cash payment of 120 pesos ($11.55) to help them cope with rising food prices. That’s about an extra 4 pesos a day. Big deal. See President Felipe Calderon’s speech on the matter here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City