Global crisis to leave 64 million more people in extreme poverty by end of 2010: World Bank
Global crisis to leave 64 million more people in extreme poverty by end of 2010: World Bank
11:07, March 24, 2010 
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The impact of the global economic crisis has been substantial, and it will leave an additional 64 million people in extreme poverty by the end of 2010, a senior official from the World Bank said on Tuesday.
Otaviano Canuto, vice president and head of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network of the World Bank, made the statement at the Fourth High-Level Dialogue of the UN General Assembly on Financing for Development.
"By 2015, the global poverty rate is projected to be 15 percent, 1 percentage point higher than it would have been without the crisis," Canuto said. "The crisis will leave an additional 64 million people in extreme poverty by the end of 2010."
"The slow recovery will not make up all the lost ground," he said, adding that for Sub-Saharan Africa, the poverty rate is expected to be 38 percent by 2015, rather than 36 percent it would have been without the crisis, lifting 20 million fewer people out of poverty.
"For the under-five mortality rate, an additional 55,000 children might die before age five in 2015," he said. "The consequences for infant deaths in Africa are serious -- about 30, 000-50,000 excess deaths in 2009, almost all of them girls."
"Although a fraction of the more than 3 million infant deaths in Africa each year, the tragedy is not just the excess deaths but that so many children die each year -- deaths avoidable with better policies and interventions," he said.
"As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, the development community faces renewed challenges in the fight against poverty, hunger and other human deprivations," he said.
"The impact of the crisis have been substantial, although it has differed substantially across the countries and regions, reflecting different economic structures, initial conditions, and the relative significance of different channels of impact," he said.
"In many dynamic middle-income emerging market countries, available policy tools and resources have been allowed an aggressively and pro-active response, with the result that recovery is well underway," he said.
"But in most low-income countries and many lower middle-income countries, these options were out of reach as the crisis deepened and the inability to address the crisis-related challenges in a timely fashion jeopardizes years of progress in combating poverty and improving the foundations for economic growth," he said.
Source: Xinhua
Otaviano Canuto, vice president and head of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network of the World Bank, made the statement at the Fourth High-Level Dialogue of the UN General Assembly on Financing for Development.
"By 2015, the global poverty rate is projected to be 15 percent, 1 percentage point higher than it would have been without the crisis," Canuto said. "The crisis will leave an additional 64 million people in extreme poverty by the end of 2010."
"The slow recovery will not make up all the lost ground," he said, adding that for Sub-Saharan Africa, the poverty rate is expected to be 38 percent by 2015, rather than 36 percent it would have been without the crisis, lifting 20 million fewer people out of poverty.
"For the under-five mortality rate, an additional 55,000 children might die before age five in 2015," he said. "The consequences for infant deaths in Africa are serious -- about 30, 000-50,000 excess deaths in 2009, almost all of them girls."
"Although a fraction of the more than 3 million infant deaths in Africa each year, the tragedy is not just the excess deaths but that so many children die each year -- deaths avoidable with better policies and interventions," he said.
"As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, the development community faces renewed challenges in the fight against poverty, hunger and other human deprivations," he said.
"The impact of the crisis have been substantial, although it has differed substantially across the countries and regions, reflecting different economic structures, initial conditions, and the relative significance of different channels of impact," he said.
"In many dynamic middle-income emerging market countries, available policy tools and resources have been allowed an aggressively and pro-active response, with the result that recovery is well underway," he said.
"But in most low-income countries and many lower middle-income countries, these options were out of reach as the crisis deepened and the inability to address the crisis-related challenges in a timely fashion jeopardizes years of progress in combating poverty and improving the foundations for economic growth," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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