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Abstract
Until the world financial crisis struck, commodity and food prices seemed to be on an inexorable
uptrend. The increases caused widespread concern about the effects of higher food prices on
poverty. These concerns are relevant to the poor people everywhere but are especially relevant to
poor people in developing countries who must spend high proportions of their incomes on food. In
this analysis we use data from the Fiji Islands Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2002 –
2003 to assess the likely effects of the increase in food prices in Fiji over 2002 to mid 2008 on the
incidence of poverty in Fiji. We review and discuss the impacts of some of the Fiji Islands
Government’s responses designed to alleviate the impacts on the Fiji Islands community.