Covid drove 100mn into poverty: WB chief

WASHINGTON/PARIS:THE coronavirus pandemic may have driven as many as 100 million people back into extreme poverty, World Bank president David Malpass warned on Thursday.

The Washington-based development lender previously estimated that 60 million people would fall into extreme poverty due to Covid-19, but the new estimate puts the deterioration at 70 million to 100 million, and he said “that number could go higher” if the pandemic worsens.

The situation makes it “imperative” that creditors reduce the amount of debt held by poor countries at risk, going beyond the commitment to suspend debt payments, Malpass said in an interview with AFP.

“The debt vulnerabilities are high, and the imperative of getting light at the end of the tunnel so that new investors can come in is substantial,” Malpass said.

Advanced economies in G20 already have committed to suspending debt payments from the poorest nations through the end of the year. But Malpass said that will not be enough, since the economic downturn means those countries, which already are struggling to provide a safety net for their citizens, will not be in a better position to deal with the payments.

The World Bank has committed to deploying $160 billion in funding to 100 countries through

June 2021 in an effort to addresses the immediate emergency, and about $21 billion had been released through the end of June. But even so, extreme poverty, defined as earning less than $1.90 a day, continues to rise.

FATALITIES IN LATIN AMERICA TOP 250,000

The death toll from Covid-19 in Latin America has surged past 250,000. Latin America and the Caribbean recorded nearly 6.5 million infections and 250,969 deaths on Thursday.

In Europe, worrying spikes in coronavirus infections were reported in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, including in 41 Berlin schools, showing that the pandemic was rebounding across the continent due to travel and summer holidays.

While Italy registered 845 new cases on Thursday, its highest daily tally since May, France reported 4,700 fresh infections - a massive increase on the previous day.