Washington (AFP)

Laborious progress in development made in recent years, wiped out in a few months by the coronavirus pandemic: this is the major risk that poor countries currently run, warned David Malpass, President of the World Bank on Friday.

From the start of the crisis, the Washington institution stood at the bedside of the most vulnerable countries, in particular in Africa, Asia and Latin America, pledging to provide $ 160 billion over the years. next fifteen months, until July 2021.

While these countries lack almost everything, it will finance many projects in the field to speed up the screening of Covid-19, set up health cordon, do prevention, provide logistical support to medical teams or even help to continuity of schooling.

"But it will clearly be insufficient," admitted David Malpass after the spring meetings held in virtual mode.

"If we do not act quickly to strengthen the systems and resilience (of these countries), the development progress made in recent years can easily be lost," he said.

"We have a long road ahead of us," he added. "Hundreds of millions of people need support."

- Recession -

He recalled that even before the global economy was paralyzed, "development needs were acute". "The debt burden and the problems of debt sustainability were enormous," he said.

And it is these same countries, and these "extremely poor people in the world", who will be "severely affected by the global recession".

World Bank President and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva have insisted this week on the unprecedented nature of this crisis. It is "unprecedented" and its health, economic and social effects "devastating worldwide", said David Malpass.

The IMF expects a global recession of 3% this year.

And the contraction in GDP could be even more severe if the pandemic is not brought under control by the end of June and if the containment measures were to continue in the second half.

Kristalina Georgieva estimated that the crisis, dubbed the "Great Containment", could be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"Our estimates suggest a much deeper global slowdown than that of the Great Recession (following the 2008 financial crisis), given the decline in production, investment, employment and trade," said the president. from the World Bank.

The Covid-19 pandemic has already infected more than 2.1 million people worldwide.

- Transparency -

The IMF and the World Bank have initiated moratoriums on the debt of the poorest countries to allow them to face the crisis.

On this point, David Malpass said during a virtual press conference that he had presented five measures to ensure that the beneficiary countries are transparent about their debt and how they will use the budget released.

If developing countries are transparent, "they are much more attractive for profitable investment from around the world and from private sectors around the world," he said.

In return for the moratorium announced this week, "there will be monitoring how governments use the fiscal space created by debt relief."

"If a government saves money by not paying its creditors, it is expected to use it for health, education, economic reconstruction, to allocate it to concrete means to help the locals, "he insisted.

- Inspire confidence -

Turning to the future, when the pandemic is over and the economy recovers, he stressed the importance of restoring people's confidence so that they can fully participate in the economic recovery.

"Building confidence will be one of the biggest challenges for governments, they will have to speak forcefully (...) about the value of people, the value of (..) their country," he said.

Because without confidence, no solid economic recovery.

According to current IMF projections, recovery is expected next year but the pace should be "significantly lower than the trend before the crisis," said Kristalina Georgieva.

© 2020 AFP