World Bank urges G20 to do more to help poor countries

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Group of 20 nations should not forget poorer countries, which are still suffering the consequences of the global recession, the World Bank said Wednesday.

In a paper prepared for the upcoming G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, the World Bank said that as a result of the crisis 89 million more people will be living in extreme poverty, on less than 1.25 dollars a day, by the end of 2010.

The global recession has also put at risk 11.6 billion dollars of core spending in areas such as education, health, infrastructure and social protection in the most vulnerable countries.

"The poor and most vulnerable are at greatest risk from economic shocks -- families are pushed into poverty, health conditions deteriorate, school attendance declines, and progress in other critical areas is stalled or reversed," said World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick.

Despite strong international efforts to cushion the impact of the global recession on Low-Income Countries, the paper stated that low-income developing countries continue to suffer the consequences of the food, fuel and financial crises, and the poorest countries will need additional assistance to confront and move beyond the global recession.

"The poorest countries may not be well represented on the G-20,but we cannot ignore the long-term costs of the global downturn on their people's health and education," said Zoellick.