world bank

Indian-American Banga, who became the 14th president of the top bank this year, was among 35 honorees from diverse backgrounds and fields whose contributions and actions enriched and strengthened American society and democracy. From India, he is the only honouree in the prestigious Carnegie list, which has named more than 700 "Great Immigrants" since 2006.

The World Bank warned that further delays in external financing, policy slippages, and political uncertainty pose significant risks to the macro poverty outlook. In the absence of higher social spending, the lower middle-income poverty rate is expected to increase to 37.2 per cent in 2022-23, according to the World Bank report on the macro poverty outlook for Pakistan, Dawn reported.

The floods, which took place between June and August 2022, resulted in the death of more than 11 million livestock and the destruction of over 9.4 million acres of cropland in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, which are already among the most food-insecure regions in the country, Samaa TV reported.

And to add more to the open wounds of Pakistan, the World Bank (WB) has delayed the approval of two loans worth $1.1 billion until the next fiscal year pending some steps on the country's energy debt and tariffs. The WB loans approvals have been pending since June last year while Pakistan's next fiscal year starts in April 2023.

The region's growth is projected to slow this year from 7.2 per cent in 2021, before accelerating to 4.6 per cent next year, according to the World Bank's newly released East Asia and Pacific Economic Update. In April, the developing East Asia and Pacific countries is projected to grow by 5 per cent in 2022, reports Xinhua news agency.

The growth is mainly driven by a robust rebound in consumption demand, Xinhua news agency quoted the World Bank as saying in a report. According to the global lender, Malaysia's private consumption growth is forecast to reach 8.5 per cent this year, its fastest pace since 2008. The World Bank also projected Malaysia's economy to grow at 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 4.4 per cent in 2024.

The risk of high inflation and low growth -- so -- called "stagflation" -- is also higher, World Bank President David Malpass said. Energy and food bills have been rising around the world. "The war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China, supply-chain disruptions, and the risk of stagflation are hammering growth. For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid," Malpass said, BBC reported.

The report estimated that energy prices are expected to rise more than 50 per cent in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024. The price of Brent crude oil is expected to average $100 a barrel in 2022, its highest level since 2013 and an increase of more than 40 per cent compared to 2021. Prices are expected to moderate to $92 in 2023, still well above the five-year average of $60 a barrel.

In his address to the session on Thursday, the President said the first step was immediate support for Ukraine, "so that the Russian leadership knows that the war will not allow them to realise any of their aggressive goals". "Second, Russia must be immediately excluded from all international financial institutions," he said. In the third step, Zelensky said Ukraine needed a special tax for the war, adding that "Russia, and after it any other aggressor, must pay for violating global stability".

"The global recovery is set to decelerate markedly amid continued Covid-19 flare-ups, diminished policy support, and lingering supply bottlenecks," the semiannual report added on Tuesday.