Concern over commodity market volatility

Jean-Claude Trichet, speaking as chair of talks at a Bank for International Settlements meeting, also said policymakers had not discussed in depth Greece’s fiscal problems beyond agreeing that some advanced economies needed to improve their finances.

His comments on commodities came after oil posted a record weekly loss of more than $16 a barrel last week after making strong gains this year on the back of robust growth in emerging economies.

“We have associated of course potential overheating in emerging market economies with the overall recovery confirmed at a global level,” Mr Trichet told a news conference after the meeting.

“We have this issue of commodity prices and oil and energy prices in particular with a level of volatility that we can see recently... we consider this is an issue which is of great importance. It has a great impact on CPI inflation all over the world.”

On the topic of oil price swings, Mr Trichet, who heads the European Central Bank, said the governor of Saudi Arabia’s central bank had given assurances that the world’s top oil exporter would keep supplies appropriate.

A global index for commodities prices last week staged its biggest weekly drop since late 2008, down 9 per cent.

Mr Trichet said governors needed to better understand correlations of oil, energy and other commodity prices as well as the consequences of commodities becoming asset classes of their own.