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World Bank: Terror Attacks Hurt Developing Countries
The September 11 terror attacks in the United States will hurt economic growth in developing countries in 2001 and 2002, condemning as many as 10 million more people to live in poverty next year, the World Bank said in a report released Monday.
Before the September 11 events, the World Bank expected developing countries' growth to fall from 5.5 percent in 2000 to 2. 9 percent in 2001 as a result of slowdowns in the United States, Japan and Europe, and then rebound to 4.3 percent in 2002.
But because the attacks will delay the rich countries' recovery into 2002, the bank now warned that developing countries' growth could be lower by 0.5-0.75 percentage point in 2002.
"We have seen the human toll the recent attacks wrought in the U.S., with citizens from some 80 nations perishing in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania," said World Bank President James Wolfensohn.
"But there is another human toll that is largely unseen and one that will be felt in all parts of the developing world, especially Africa," he said. "We estimate that tens of thousands more children will die worldwide and some 10 million more people are likely to be living below the poverty line of one dollar a day because of the terrorist attacks."
The World Bank's preliminary economic assessment was based only on expected loss of income, Wolfensohn said. "Many, many more people will be thrown into poverty if development strategies are disrupted," he added.
"The worst hit area will be Africa, where in addition to the possible increases in poverty of two-three million people as a result of lower growth and incomes, a further two million people may be condemned to living below a dollar a day due to the effects of falling commodity prices," the report said.
Prior to the crisis, the World Bank estimated the United States and other developed countries would grow 1.1 percent in 2001 and recover to 2.2 percent in 2002.
But the 2002 figure could be cut by 0.75-1.25 percentage points by the impact of the terrorist attacks, the bank said.
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