It will be the first time that poverty has increased globally in 30 years, the BBC cited the study, written by experts at King’s College London and Australian National University (ANU), as saying on Thursday. The report, which estimates a 400-600 million increase in the number of people in poverty across the globe, says the potential impact of the virus poses a real challenge to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty by 2030.
“Our findings point towards the importance of a dramatic expansion of social safety nets in developing countries as soon as possible and – more broadly – much greater attention to the impact of COVID-19 in developing countries and what the international community can do to help,” the BBC quoted Professor Andy Sumner of King’s College London as saying.
By the time the pandemic is over half of the world’s population of 7.8 billion people could be living in poverty.
About 40 per cent of the new poor could be concentrated in East Asia and the Pacific, with about one third in both Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to the study. The findings come ahead of key meetings of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and G20 finance ministers next week.
IANS
