‘Poor countries being ignored in economic crisis’

September 25th, 2009 Poor nations want compensation for economic crisisUNITED NATIONS — Developing nations are urging the industrialized world to acknowledge its responsibility for the global economic and climate crises and to compensate them for the damages these have caused. Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr al-Qirbi, who chairs the Group of 77 that represents 132 developing counties, says the U.N.

September 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The UN Millennium Campaign has just released figures which show that unless rich countries marshal additional resources at the ongoing G20 summit, they are likely to deliver $33 billion less aid than promised to the poor countries which are hardest hit by the global economic crisis. At the same time, packages intended to help poor countries address the crisis might drive them deeper into debt, a spokesperson of the campaign said over e-mail.

September 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The world economy is beginning to turn around after its first recession in decades, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said poor countries have done a better job than expected of weathering the global economic storm, but will still need massive aid to curb its worst effects.

July 29th, 2009 IMF to boost funds for poor countriesWASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday it will sharply increase funds it lends to low income countries to help them deal with the global financial crisis. The IMF said it expected to provide up to $17 billion to these countries through 2014, including up to $8 billion over the next two years.

July 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The World Bank Wednesday said it spent a record $58.8 billion on loans, grants, guarantees and social projects over the last year to help poor countries steer through a dramatic global recession. The development bank said its budget jumped 54 percent between July 2008 and June 30 from a year earlier and is now at the highest level in its 60-year history.

June 24th, 2009 UN: impact of economic crisis could last yearsUNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned at a U.N. financial summit Wednesday that the impact of the global economic crisis could last for years with millions more families pushed into poverty, and he urged rich nations to mobilize the money to help hard-hit developing countries.

June 23rd, 2009 Poor nations want UN role in financial crisisUNITED NATIONS — The global financial crisis is being tackled by the eight major industrialized nations, the 20 key economic powers, and regional groups. Now, the U.N.

June 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The global financial crisis may leave over a billion people hungry every day this year, says a new estimate by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). According to FAO, a United Nations organisation that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, the number of hungry people globally will rise from 915 million in 2008 to 1.02 billion in 2009.

June 19th, 2009 ROME - Some 1.02 billion people are likely to go hungry in 2009, a UN agency said Friday, blaming the "historic" high figure on the global economic crisis. In 2008, the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) revised its estimate of hungry people from 963 million to 915 million, due to a better-than-expected global food supply.

June 13th, 2009 Pope's new encyclical will focus on economyVATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday his new encyclical on the economy and labor issues will focus on ways to make globalization more careful to the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis. The document will outline the goals and values that the faithful must "tirelessly defend" to ensure "true freedom and solidarity" among humans, Benedict said in a speech.

April 26th, 2009 World Bank: Nations should speed aid to poorWASHINGTON — The World Bank on Sunday urged donor nations to speed up delivery of the money they've already pledged — and to give even more — to help poor countries weather the steep global recession. The bank said developing countries face especially serious consequences as the financial and economic crisis turns into what it described as a "human and development calamity." In a communique, the World Bank's policy steering committee said the crisis has already driven more than 50 million people into extreme poverty, particularly women and children.

April 25th, 2009 World Bank to aid poor countries with public worksWASHINGTON — The World Bank said Saturday it would provide poor countries with more than $55 billion for public work projects left in limbo when the recession dried up capital investment. The goal is to create jobs and lay the foundation for future economic growth and poverty reduction.

April 24th, 2009 UN calls on Asia to protect poor from food crisisBANGKOK — The food crisis that hit many developing countries last year is likely to re-emerge following the recession and Asian countries must take measures to protect poor people from rising prices, a U.N. report said Friday.

April 23rd, 2009 Barroso: EU must help poor despite recessionBRUSSELS — The European Commission's president says the EU must continue to be the world's primary donor of aid to poor nations despite the global recession. Jose Manuel Barroso says poor countries "are the least responsible for this crisis but among the worst affected." He says the recession "must not, cannot and will not be used as an excuse" for cutting EU aid to developing nations.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The global economic turmoil poses a grave threat to developing nations even though their contribution to the cause of the crisis is negligible, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Tuesday. 'Given the magnitude of the global financial and economic crisis today, the developing countries may become its worst victims even though they were not the cause of the crisis,' Mukherjee said while delivering his address at the general session of the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO).