I think not. At least, not to those who have been paying attention (which group, admittedly, does not always include me).

Here’s what The Guardian says:

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.

"It would put the World Bank in a political hot-spot with the White House," said one yesterday.

(As an aside… I was at first thinking that the impulse to protect Bush and his disastrous administration at the expense of the world’s poor was due to Paul Wolfowitz being the president of the World Bank. I’d forgotten that he was such a complete disaster that he was basically forced out in 2007. No, the current president is the, I’m sure, completely autonomous and independent former Bush admin official, Robert Zoellick. Ahem.)

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