Global economic crisis now turning into human calamity: IMF, WB

The IMF and the World Bank has said the current global economic crisis is turning into a human calamity as it has hit millions of poor people. The crisis has no only driven more than 50 million people into extreme poverty, but the hard-earned progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is also now in jeopardy, it said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) has said the current global economic crisis is turning into a human calamity as it has hit millions of poor people across the world.

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Concluding that the current global economic crisis has deteriorated dramatically in the last couple of months, the IMF and the WB, in a joint communiqué on Sunday, said developing countries, in particular, have been facing serious consequences of the meltdown, as the "financial and economic crisis turns into a human and development calamity".

"There is a widespread recognition that the world faces an unprecedented economic crisis, poor people could suffer the most, and that we must continue to act in real time to prevent a human catastrophe," said WB President Robert Zoellick at a press conference after the Development Committee meeting here.

The crisis has no only driven more than 50 million people, particularly women and children, into extreme poverty, but the hard-earned progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is also now in jeopardy, the Bretton Woods institutions said.