World Bank warns that global economy close to recession

World Bank President David Malpass has warned that the global economy is dangerously close to a recession and called for targeted support for the poor. He said the World Bank has lowered 2023 growth forecast from 3 percent to 1.9 percent for global growth.

That's dangerously close to a world recession, he said. Mr. Malpass was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

 He said all problems such as inflation, rise in interest rates, and cutoff of capital flows to the developing world have hit the



poor hard. He said these problems pose a huge challenge for the World Bank. Mr. Malpass said we are focused on helping people get ahead in developing countries. He said, some countries have already been raising their interest rates and may be reaching a point where they don't have to keep raising them. 

According to Malpass, the buildup of debt for developing countries is mainly because of high-interest rates; the amount of debt itself is up, and their currencies tend to be weakening. He said the depreciation of the currency adds to the burden of the debt.