NEW YORK, July 16 (Xinhua) -- As New Yorkers tighten their belts, more people are turning to city soup kitchens and food pantries to get their daily meals.

    The New York City Coalition Against Hunger says local charities are serving nine percent more meals than at the same time last year, www.ny1.com reported Wednesday.

    The organization says that nearly 2 million meals were served in March and April. That's an increase of more than 167,000 over last year.

    The group blames the struggling economy and higher food prices for the increase, according to the website report.

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg the has recently announced a new formula redefining the standard of poverty to account for rising costs.

    Under the new guidelines, the poverty threshold of a family of four in the city goes from about 20,000 dollars a year to 26,000 dollars a year.