PM ‘to back vulnerability fund’
By Alex Stevenson
Gordon Brown is expected to announce Britain’s commitment to providing cash for a new ‘vulnerability fund’ organised by the World Bank later today.
The prime minister will address an international development conference in London this afternoon outlining how the world’s developed countries should help “cushion the impact” of the global economic downturn.
International development secretary Douglas Alexander fears 90 million people face extreme poverty by the end of next year because of the credit crunch.
“The economies of developing countries could be seriously damaged by a second wave of a credit crunch tsunami,” he said.
“As global trade and investment disappears, businesses close and jobs are lost. For people living close to the poverty-line, the impact could be devastating.”
There are concerns the millennium development goals could be set back by as much as three years because of global economic difficulties.
A World Bank report published overnight warned developing countries face a financing shortfall of up to $700 billion (£505 billion) a year as private sector creditors shun emerging markets.
“We need to react in real time to a growing crisis that is hurting people in developing countries,” World Bank president Robert Zoellick said.
“This global crisis needs a global solution and preventing an economic catastrophe in developing countries is important for global efforts to overcome this crisis.
“We need investments in safety nets, infrastructure, and small and medium size companies to create jobs and to avoid social and political unrest.”
Downing Street said Mr Brown would address these issues with Apolo Nsibambi, the prime minister of Uganda, who he is meeting in No 10 this afternoon.
They will then be addressed at the G20 finance ministers’ meeting, which takes place in Britain on Saturday.
