World Bank warns 60 million could be pushed into extreme poverty

JOHANNESBURG – The World Bank yesterday warned that 60 million people globally could be pushed into extreme poverty this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The lender said in a snippet of Global Economic Prospects report that Covid-19 would be particularly devastating with lasting scars on the developing world.

World Bank president David Malpass said the pandemic would affect countries with weak health systems and reliant on global trade, tourism, or remittances from abroad, and those that depend on commodity exports.

Malpass said the deep recessions associated with the pandemic were likely to exacerbate the multi-decade slowdown in economic growth and productivity.

“The scope and speed with which the Covid-19 pandemic and economic shutdowns have devastated the poor around the world are unprecedented in modern times,” Malpass said.