NEW WORLD BANK REPORT ON IMPOVERISHMENT ARISING FROM THE CRISIS

A NEW WORLD BANK REPORT REVIEWS THE IMPOVERISHMENT ARISING FROM THE CRISIS AROUND THE WORLD: A CRISIS THAT HAS BEEN PROLONGED BY U.S. OBSTINACY.
From: SIGNS OF AN END-GAME SHOWDOWN WITH WASHINGTON
THE REPORT REFERS TO QUOTE 'THE RAPIDLY DETERIORATING ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT'.

Readers and subscribers will be well aware that we know, and have in the past, referenced the participation of the World Bank in certain Fraudulent Finance operations. However the quality and professionalism of World Bank and IMF staff is, generally speaking, second to none: so that a clear distinction must be drawn between abuse of the international institution's inner workings (via its tax-exempt bank account privileges, for instance), and the professional work of the staffers.

The World Bank has just issued a report, summarised below, which provides new information on the impact of this crisis, which has been prolonged by the criminal behaviour of US office-holders and operatives, on parts of the Rest of the World (the phrase we use to distinguish everywhere else from the United States itself). We append a summary of the new report:

The global financial crisis is having a devastating impact on families in emerging Europe and Central Asia, with the risk of the region giving back a fifth of the poverty reduction gains of the past decade, according to a new World Bank report. By 2010, there could be over 10 million more poor people in the region, and close to an additional 25 million more who were almost middle class but now just above the poverty line (relative to pre-crisis projections) with the potential of losing their homes, jobs, and basic services.

The new report, 'The Crisis Hits Home – Stress-Testing Households in Europe and Central Asia', takes a unique look at the impacts of the global financial crisis at the household level in this region. According to the report, families are being hit by credit market shocks, the increasing prices of goods and services, and rising unemployment.

“The global financial crisis risks reversing the substantial gains and improvements in living standards achieved by the Europe and Central Asia region over the last few years”, said Luca Barbone, Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region. “One of the tragic impacts of the crisis has been that the middle income countries that had turned the corner, are the ones hardest hit. Across countries in the region, unemployment levels have risen while economic activities have collapsed. Poverty will rise. Families are being stretched to the limit”.

• Editor's inserted Note:
See data for the collapse of exports, in the narrative above. See also the report's reference below to quote 'THE RAPIDLY DETERIORATING ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT' unquote.

CREDIT MARKET SHOCKS
The report says that stress tests recently conducted by the World Bank on household loans show that ongoing macroeconomic shocks to interest rates, exchange rates, and household income may increase the numbers of families that are unable to pay back their debt.

For example, up to 20 percent more families with mortgages and other loans in Lithuania and Hungary could be at risk of defaulting on their loans.

PRICE SHOCKS IN THE PIPELINE
The food and fuel crisis may not be over. International commodity price levels have not returned to pre-2007 levels. In addition, falling currencies in some countries are now generating a new round of price increases. Because food represents a very large share of the poor’s total consumption – in some of the low-income countries of Europe and Central Asia, the food share of consumption among the poor is 70 to 80 percent – the poorest consumers will again be vulnerable.

In addition, in a number of countries, such as Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine, the utility reform program remains largely incomplete. As a result, a number of countries will have to adjust their energy tariffs to cost-recovery levels in the coming years.

EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME SHOCKS
Over the recovery period following the 1998 Russian crisis through 2006, more than 50 million people moved out of poverty in the region. However, the poverty impact of this crisis will be enormous. The RAPIDLY DETERIORATING GLOBAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT [sic] is eroding the region’s substantial gains and, given the increased poverty projections, is threatening the welfare of a total of about 160 million people – close to 40 million people who are poor and approximately 120 million people who are just above the poverty line.

It is the middle-income Commonwealth of Independent (CIS) countries that have seen the largest and most significant downward revisions to their Gross Domestic Product growth projections.

COPING WITH THE CRISIS
According to the report, lessons from the region’s own experiences with previous crises suggest that temporary economic shocks have a lasting impact on human development, as families cut back their education and health investments in response to a banking or exchange rate crisis.

Compared to past crises, the scope for households in Europe and Central Asia to fall back on their traditional coping strategies – from secondary employment and money transfers from friends and family to working abroad – is much more limited.