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Poverty Drops Below 1 Billion, World Bank Says

Global poverty rates continued to fall in the first four years of this century, according to new estimates published in the World Development Indicators 2007, which is released on Monday. The proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day fell to 18.4 percent in 2004, leaving an estimated 985 million people living in extreme poverty. In 1990, the total number of extreme poor was 1.25 billion. Two-dollar-a-day poverty rates are falling too, but an estimated 2.6 billion people, almost half...

WB raises China 2008 growth forecast to 9.8%

In view of China\'s strong growth of its service sector, the World Bank (WB) raised its forecast for China\'s 2008 economic growth to 9.8 percent in a report released on Thursday. In April, it forecast a 9.4 percent growth, down from the 9.6 percent prediction made in the beginning of 2008 and 10.8 percent made in mid 2007. The upward revision this time largely reflected data showing stronger service sector growth of China\'s revised GDP data, said the World Bank in a Quarterly Update for...

World Bank Helps Clean up Chinas Pearl River

Yesterday the World Bank\'s Board of Executive Directors approved a loan of US$96 million to the People\'s Republic of China to help finance the Second Guangdong Pearl River Delta Urban Environment Project. The project will help reduce water pollution in the Pearl River system in Guangdong Province through a package of key initiatives, including wastewater treatment and sludge disposal, industrial pollution control and water quality monitoring, sediment removal from waterways, and flood...

World Bank president welcomes Chinas role in global development

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick has commended China for the role it is playing in global development and the effort it is making to improve its energy efficiency, and reduce pollution. Speaking at the end of a four-day visit to China – his first as World Bank President – Mr. Zoellick said: \"I hope my discussions with the leadership have helped pave the way for closer cooperation between the World Bank and Chinese authorities on issues of global concern, including development...

Public finance reform: the key to Chinas sustained progress

China needs reforms to government finance to meet its dynamic needs, says a book launched in Washington on Thursday by the World Bank.  As the world\'s fourth-largest economy and third-largest exporter, China\'s growth rate of about 9 percent a year over the past decade helped reduce its poverty rate from 60 percent of the population to less than 10 percent today.  However, such rapid growth has increased inequalities in income and access to basic services, and strained natural resources,...

WB chief urges G8 to act now

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick has called on leaders of the G8 as well as the major oil producers to act now to deal with surging food and energy prices, warning that the world is now \"entering a danger zone\". Zoellick\'s call is contained in a July 1 letter to the head of the upcoming G8 summit in Japan, in which the Bank, World Food Program (WFP) and International Monetary Fund estimate that about 10 billion dollars is needed to meet short term needs of people hit hardest by the...

Poverty Drops Below 1 Billion, World Bank Says

Global poverty rates continued to fall in the first four years of this century, according to new estimates published in the World Development Indicators 2007, which is released on Monday. The proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day fell to 18.4 percent in 2004, leaving an estimated 985 million people living in extreme poverty. In 1990, the total number of extreme poor was 1.25 billion. Two-dollar-a-day poverty rates are falling too, but an estimated 2.6 billion people, almost half...

World Bank to Help Recover Assets Stolen by Corrupt Officials

The World Bank has unveiled an initiative to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders and officials. \"We at the World Bank, in partnership with the international community, want to help developing countries recover assets that have been stolen by former corrupt leaders,\" said World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. \"This is a moral obligation. Recovering even a portion of the stolen assets will help fund development and social programs, or badly-needed...

Prospects for Growth Remain Good: WB

Although GDP growth again surprised on the upside, the pattern of growth and the implications for policy have remained largely unchanged, notes the World Bank\'s China Quarterly Update released today. In the first quarter of 2007, growth continued to be industry-led, powered by external trade and investment. With export growth to the EU and the developing world surging, the trade surplus continued to rise, and foreign reserves soared further. Inflation picked up on the back of international...

WTO Chief Embarks on 4-day China Visit

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy arrived in Beijing on Sunday as he tries to revive the stalled Doha trade talks. In an interview prior to his departure for Beijing, Lamy said he would tell Chinese officials that developing countries should also contribute to the trade talks so they can be concluded in the next six to nine months. \"Obviously, all countries are preparing for a possible compromise ... and I want to make sure that as we reach this crunch time,...