World Bank: financial Crisis Could Trap 53 Million More People in Poverty
As many as 53 million more people could be trapped in poverty as economic growth slows around the world, according to new World Bank forecasts. And in a blow to efforts to reduce infant mortality, between 200,000 and 400,000 more babies could die each year between now and 2015 if the crisis persists, the Bank predicts.
The new forecasts preceded a meeting of the G7 finance ministers this weekend in Rome.
World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick participated at the meetings. He has urged developed countries to set aside 0.7 percent of their economic stimulus packages for a special Vulnerability Fund for developing countries. “While much of the world is focused on bank rescues and stimulus packages, we should not forget that poor people in developing countries are far more exposed if their economies falter,” Zoellick said. Some 40 countries are “highly vulnerable” due to pre-existing high rates of poverty and expected drops in growth. Millions already living below the poverty line “will be pushed further below the poverty line” as a result of the global financial crisis, according to the new policy note, “The Global Economic Crisis: Assessing Vulnerability with a Poverty Lens.”
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