Crisis turning into 'human calamity': IMF, World Bank

WASHINGTON: The global economic crisis is turning into "a human and development calamity," with developing countries being hit increasingly hard, the IMF and World Bank said.

"The global economy has deteriorated dramatically ... Developing countries face especially serious consequences as the financial and economic crisis turns into a human and development calamity," they said in a statement on Sunday.

The crisis "has already driven more than 50 million people into extreme poverty ... We must alleviate its impact on developing countries and facilitate their contribution to global recovery."

How to help the developing world cope with the worst global slump since the 1930s Great Depression was top of the agenda of the spring meeting of the joint International Monetary Fund and World Bank development committee.



The statement said their member states needed to meet pledges, including commitments to increase resources available for lending made at the London G20 summit, in order the tackle the problem.

"Given the possibility of a slow recovery, we considered the need to deploy additional resources," it said, with the World Bank to examine this issue further.

A World Bank/IMF report warned on Friday that the crisis means up to 90 million more people will remain trapped in extreme poverty this year while the chronically hungry could top one billion.