21, May, 2020
The head of the World Bank has said that the Covid pandemic "could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty".
The prediction from the World Bank is startling. Their director, David Malpass said as many as 60million people would suffer "extreme poverty" due to the coronavirus.
The definition of "extreme poverty" refers to those living on less than $1.90 per person per day.
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Malpass outlined how millions of livelihoods have been destroyed and healthcare systems battle to survive. Furthermore, the bank expects global economic growth to shrink by 5percent this year, as countries around the world tackle the pandemic.
Malpass said this erases all the progress made in poverty alleviation since 2017.
To offer some relief, the bank is providing $160billion in grants and low-interest loans to help poor countries tackle hit hard by the pandemic.
The World Bank along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also devised a scheme to allow poorer countries to request debt relief on repayments of loans owed to G20 members until the end of 2020.
The bank aims are to support the poorest households and improve livelihoods for people bearing the economic brunt of the pandemic.