IMF Warns India’s Rice Export Ban Could Worsen Food Price Inflation

'We would encourage the removal of these type of export restrictions'

A worker packs a sack filled with rice on the outskirts of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Feb. 27, 2015. Amit Dave/Reuters

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that India’s restriction of certain types of rice could exacerbate global inflation of food prices.

The IMF’s chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, told a news conference on July 25 that India’s new export restrictions on non-basmati white rice, implemented on July 20, could drive up prices in other countries.