World Bank President Sets Goal To Eliminate Extreme Poverty By 2030

 

The World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, has called for ambitious new goals to help end extreme poverty by 2030.

In a speech at Georgetown University, Washington, USA, Kim said: “We are at an auspicious moment in history when the successes of past decades and an increasingly favourable economic outlook combine to give developing countries a chance - for the first time ever - to end extreme poverty within a generation.”

 “Our duty now must be to ensure that these favourable circumstances are matched with deliberate decisions to realise this historic opportunity.”

Kim noted that the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) - to halve extreme poverty - was achieved in 2010, five years ahead of time. He however listed three essential factors that will help eliminate extreme poverty for good:

 “First, to reach the goal by 2030 will require an acceleration of the growth rate observed over the past 15years, and in particular sustained high growth in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Second, it will require efforts to enhance inclusiveness and curb inequality, and ensure that growth translates into poverty reduction, most importantly through job creation.

“And third, it will require that potential shocks – such as new food, fuel, or financial crises and climatic disasters – be averted or mitigated”, the World Bank president said.

Kim pointed out that the date of 2030 is highly ambitious: “To reach the 2030 goal, we must halve poverty once, then halve it again, and then nearly halve it a third time - all in less than one generation.”

“We must collectively work to help all vulnerable people everywhere lift themselves well above the poverty line. At the World Bank Group we call this boosting shared prosperity,” he said.