World Bank President Robert Zoellick says the surge in global food prices is the biggest threat to the world’s poor. Zoellick said 44 million people have fallen into poverty in the last year because of rising food prices, noting the world is very close to a “full-blown crisis.” He called for action from rich nations to help the poor. Zoellick made his remarks at a news conference wrapping up three days of talks in Washington involving the world’s financial leaders. Leaders from the 187 nations of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank focused on global financial reform. G20 officials set a new monitoring process to examine leading economies for destabilizing policies, such as large government debts and budget deficits or big trade surpluses or deficits. Initially, officials will closely monitor economic information from the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and India. Details from other G20 countries will be analyzed later.