UN General Assembly
2011

crisis continues, citizens become indignant as they see their standard of living erode, social demonstrations multiply, Governments are threatened by the lack of governance, chaos takes over societies, and uncertainty expands everywhere. In sum, we are forced to accept increasingly alarming levels of social injustice because of the undeniable and uncontrollable power held by a circle of the world’s economic elite. Despite the wide range of global problems before us, I wish to address just one of them: financial speculation on the price of food and oil. The Dominican Republic will submit a draft resolution on the subject to this Assembly General. Since 2005 there has been a steady increase in the prices of food and oil, along with that of petroleum by-products. From 2006 to 2008, the price of soya beans has increased 107 per cent; the price of corn, 125 per cent; rice, 127 per cent; and wheat, 136 per cent. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as a result of those price increases, 150 million people joined