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Finance chiefs concerned by surging commodity prices

PARIS (Bloomberg) Finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations signalled concern that surging commodity costs are driving inflationary pressures around the world.French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, whose country chaired the meeting, said at a briefing in Paris on Saturday that “there was an exchange on excessive volatility” of raw-material costs. European Central Bank President Jean Claude-Trichet, who attended the gathering with colleagues from the world’s largest central banks, said governors “noted inflationary pressures,” which “were to be taken seriously”.Surging commodity prices are pushing up inflation around the world and adding pressure on central banks to raise borrowing costs as the economy gathers strength.China’s central bank on Friday raised the reserve requirement for lenders by a half percentage point, the second increase this year to counter inflation and curb property-price gains. Chinese inflation accelerated to a 4.9 percent annual pace in January, exceeding the government’s 2011 target for a fourth month. In the US, the world’s largest economy, year-on-year inflation reached 1.6 percent in January.