Food price escalation in South Asia: a serious and growing concern
South Asia is arguably the most vulnerable region to increasing food inflation given the large segment of the population living below or near the poverty line. This paper deals with the problems related to food price inflation in South Asia in a comprehensive manner. An in-depth empirical analysis of the possible factors that could explain the increase in food inflation is presented in the paper, and the impact of food price inflation on poverty and macroeconomic stability in South Asia has also been covered. Some practical policies are proposed to address the situation including a discussion on how regionalism may provide one of the solutions to food inflation.