Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Sharm-El-Sheikh (Egypt) and said that the main reason for world food crisis  is speculation.

“It’s not just about climate change and bioethanol production. The global financial crisis urged profiteers to redistribute their funds from securities market to the commodities.  For the first time in history, the list of commodities - oil, gold etc. - was added up by grain and sugar”, - he stressed, as quoted by KazToday.

He also shared his concerns that financial crisis and expensive food will define the global politics in the near perspective, with the food trouble being a tragedy for millions of people, provoking their protest. It should be noted that the head of the state repeatedly underscored in his speeches in Kazakhstan that there is no crisis as such in the country. According to the president, “high oil prices stir up inflation, while economic growth declines in the whole world”.

This seems like a justification for the problems that Kazakh economy faces - 18 per cent inflation and stark growth of non-oil sectors.