About half a billion people – or 8 percent of the world’s population — could be pushed into poverty as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the international aid group Oxfam.
The Nairobi-based charity warned Thursday that the fight against poverty could be set back by 10 years – and as much as 30 in some parts of the world such as Africa and the Middle East, Agence France-Presse reported.
The group urged world leaders to agree on a rescue package of some $2.5 trillion to prevent the descent into poverty by the large segment of the global population.
“An ‘Emergency Rescue Package for All’ would enable poor countries to provide cash grants to those who have lost their income and to bail out vulnerable small businesses,” said Oxfam, which cited research by the King’s College London and Australian National University for the dire prediction.
Measures that should be pursued include the cancellation of $1 trillion worth of developing country debt payments this year and the creation of at least $1 trillion in new international reserves, according to Oxfam.
“G20 Finance Ministers, the (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank must give developing countries an immediate cash injection to help them bail out poor and vulnerable communities,” said Jose Maria Vera, Oxfam’s international interim executive director.
An Oxfam report released ahead of next week’s IMF/World Bank annual meeting calculated the impact of the pandemic on global poverty due to dwindling household incomes or consumption.
“The economic crisis that is rapidly unfolding is deeper than the 2008 global financial crisis,” the report said.
“The estimates show that, regardless of the scenario, global poverty could increase for the first time since 1990,” it added, according to Reuters.
