China should stop hoarding food and fertiliser, says former World Bank chief

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A former World Bank president has told the BBC that China should stop hoarding food and fertiliser to ease a global supply crisis caused by the Iran war.

David Malpass, who also served as Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs under US President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019, was speaking to the World Service's World Business Report on the eve of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing.

"They have the biggest world stockpile of food stuffs and of fertiliser," he said. "They can stop building their stockpiles."

His comments come as nations around the world scramble to secure fertiliser supplies ahead of spring planting, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz severely disrupting shipments.

China has itself halted fertiliser exports since March, citing the need to protect domestic supplies.

Malpass, who ran the World Bank from 2019 to 2023, also said that Beijing's claim to be a developing nation is no longer credible.

"They present themselves as a developing country when they're the second biggest economy in the world and in many ways rich," he said.

"And yet they still have the pretence of being a developing country in the WTO and in the World Bank, and they could suspend that," Malpass added.

The BBC has contacted the Chinese embassy in Washington for comment.

On the Iran ceasefire, which Trump on Monday described as being on "massive life support", Malpass said the world should unite behind the United States and demand a resolution.

"You can't have a rogue state with plutonium, and you can't block the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

Malpass, was hopeful that China would help find a resolution to the deadlock in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that the free movement of ships was in its economic interest: "China benefits from open waterways worldwide."

"They run the shipping lines, own the containers, and make huge profit from trade with the rest of the world. So, they would be a big loser if Iran in some way had control of the Strait of Hormuz", he said.

On the economic outlook for ordinary Americans ahead of Tuesday's US inflation data for April, Malpass said prices are heading higher. "I expect some up, yes, prices will go up on many products," he said.

But he added "robust" jobs data showed the US economy was resilient.