Crisis still to hit poor countries: UN agency

LECCE, ITALY: The full impact of the global economic crisis has still not hit the developing world, the head of the UN's agriculture agency warned on Saturday on the sidelines of a G8 finance meeting in Italy.

"By the end of this year, the impact of the financial crisis is going to show more on the developing world," Kanayo Nwanze, head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), told reporters.

"We're going to see a more stressed financial situation as governments begin to have difficulties meeting their fiscal requirements to pay salaries to civil servants," he added.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said earlier this week that "the effects of the global economic downturn are rippling through the world and still very much hurting developing countries."

The 185-nation bank estimates it will provide between 50 to 60 billion dollars in lending over fiscal 2009 to crisis-hit countries.