World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, has called for a commitment by the international community to end extreme poverty by 2030. Kim also stressed the need to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people living in developing countries in the drive.
In a speech delivered before meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 19 and 20 in Washington DC, United States, 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.
“The goal would help the World Bank prioritise development projects that have the biggest impact on the poorest and reduce inequality,” Kim said, adding that “now is the time to commit to ending extreme poverty.”
In order to reach that goal, Kim said the world would have to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line of $1.25 per day to three per cent globally by 2030 and raise the per capita income of the bottom 40 per cent of every developing country. The three per cent target marks a new goal for the World Bank, which did not provide directly comparable numbers for the current rate of extreme poverty.
