World Bank President to visit Ghana next week

The World Bank President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim is expected in Ghana next week Friday.

The World Bank boss is coming to town to launch the institution’s report on Global poverty. Joy Business is learning that his visit will just last for about a day.

In a related development, the World Bank has cautioned sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana against over-dependence on commodity exports. It says it is one of important factors in efforts to tackle poverty.

While some African countries like Ghana have seen significant successes in reducing poverty, the region as a whole lags behind the rest of the world in the pace of lessening poverty, according the World Bank’s latest report.

Although the World Bank projects poverty to fall globally by 10 percent, it said it is concerned about the situation in sub-Saharan African countries.

Inspite of the fact that the share of people who fall within the poverty bracket in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to fall from 42 percent in 2012 to 35.2 percent by the end of 2015, this will still represent about half the world's poor.

The World Bank is making this projection based on the updated international poverty line of 1 dollar 90 cents a day, which incorporates new information on differences in the cost of living across countries.

Conflict and rapid population growth, according to the World Bank are also among key factors blunting the progress of countries.

The Bank’s President Jim Yong Kim warned progress in tackling poverty would be extraordinarily hard, especially in a period of slower global growth, volatile financial markets, conflicts, high youth unemployment, and the growing impact of climate change.