THE World Bank says that 100 million people could be forced into extreme poverty, as the global economy is expected to contract by 5.2 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further, the bank, based on calculations, suggested that around 20 million jobs will be destroyed in Latin America and the Caribbean Region this year.

To this end, the international financing organisation is cautioning that countries in the region must “take action now”, to build more resilient and productive food systems, to support food security during this pandemic and beyond, according to its June newsletter.

The current crisis, though deep and painful, offers the unique opportunity to reach broad and social political agreements towards these goals.

The global funding agency further noted that recovery from COVID-19 will be an opportunity for countries to build resilience, improve inclusion and ensure economic growth.

On the issue of the shrinking of the global economy by 5.2 per cent this year, the newsletter pointed out the swift and massive shock of the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown measures to contain it had plunged the global economy into severe constraints.

Using the newly-launched growth forecast of June, from the Global Economic Prospects (GEP) as a basis for its prediction, the bank provided updated global estimates of the impact of coronavirus forecast, that 71 million to 100 million people will be directly impacted by extreme poverty. It noted that the Sahara-African region is expected to be the hardest hit.

The new GEP forecast also gave a particularly sobering picture for India, which has many of the world’s poor.

Of the over 100 million people expected to be pushed into poverty, at the $3.20 poverty line under the baseline scenario, two-thirds are in South Asia.

Even before the global pandemic began, food security was already a serious concern throughout the sub-Saharan African region, the newsletter stated.