Crisis puts 10m in poverty
- Source: Global Times
- [00:53 December 08 2009]
- Comments
The global financial crisis will add 10.6 million people to the ranks of those in poverty in Europe and Central Asia by 2010, and an extra 23 million would be brought close to the limit, a World Bank report estimated Monday.
The World Bank has revised its pre-crisis estimate for the people to be hit by poverty by 2010, raising the numbers from a previous 119.3 million to 153.6 million, World Bank Director for Poverty Reduction Luca Barbone said, adding that 20 percent of the people in Europe and Central Asia who managed to escape poverty between 1998 and 2006 would again fall below poverty lines.
Most of these would be workers with little precautionary savings, who had benefited from the recent credit and construction boom to keep their heads above water.
The credit crunch, rising food and fuel costs and increasing unemployment posed the highest threat to households across Europe and Asia and a low capacity to invest in education and healthcare would also prolong the effects of the crisis on ordinary people.
AFP
