Poor Nations Desperate For Cash, World Bank Says

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, World Bank President Robert Zoellick says "... 'If the demand for our lending stays at the pace it looks like it is going to be at, it is more likely than not that we will need some sort of increase.'... Zoellick acknowledged that it's 'a challenge' to get the developed countries to consider the needs of others at the same time their own unemployment rates and debt levels are fast rising.

Demand for World Bank loans over the next year or more appears likely to be 'very, very high' because the ripples from the global recession are only now being seriously felt in Africa and other poorer regions.... 'In sub-Saharan Africa, you have no cushion,' Zoellick said. 'The harsh reality is they will feed the boy before the girl, that if they have some ability to keep someone in school, they will keep the boy and not the girl.'...

The bank's trade finance fund... is still short of the G20's goal by about $1.5-billion, Zoellick said. The idea is to raise pledges of about $5-billion to finance trade worth $50-billion over the next three years.... 'We need to build multiple poles of growth,' Zoellick said...." [Globe and Mail (Canada, 6/7)/Factiva]