World Bank chief stresses private sector's role in poverty reduction

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Tremendous accomplishments have been achieved in global poverty reduction, and the private sector will play a pivotal role in ending extreme poverty by 2030, World Bank Group (WBG) President Jim Yong Kim said here Monday.

"I firmly believe that we are living in a moment of truly historical opportunities," Kim said at an event hosted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the WBG.

He added that over the past 25 years, there has been huge progress made in lifting people out of poverty in countries including China.

The Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty between 1990 and 2015 was achieved five years ahead of the deadline, mainly due to strong economic growth and job creation by the private sector.

The WBG chief called for global actions toward ending extreme poverty by 2030, namely reducing the global extreme poverty rate below 3 percent by then.

"We have a very very difficult road ahead," as many low-hanging fruits have been picked, he cautioned.

There is no way to achieve the goal without a robust private sector creating the jobs critical to lifting people out of poverty, Kim said at the event, held before the upcoming Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank scheduled to kick off on April 19.

At least 600 million jobs must be created by 2020, mainly in developing countries, just to keep up with global population growth, and the private sector provides nine out of every 10 jobs, showed a recent IFC report on job creation.

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