"There are many great things to be done to speed up our fight against global poverty, and I see four main challenges," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that there are four major challenges that must be faced by various stakeholders together to alleviate world poverty.
"There are many great things to be done to speed up our fight against global poverty, and I see four main challenges," said Jim Yong Kim in a written statement received here on Thursday.
Jim explained that the first challenge is to protect the economic growth that has been obtained by various states against the various risks posed by the global economic crisis.
Jim said that in an interconnected world of today, a crisis in one region can have an impact on all other countries, just as a major crisis in Europe threatens to reduce an average of four per cent more than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generated by developing countries in recent years.
Therefore, the World Bank is also ready to assist developing countries in protecting their economic growth, employment, and the poor, while guiding the quality of fiscal spending and helping the country to build a cost-effective safety net.
According to Jim, the World Bank has worked with various governments to expand the safety net in as many as 40 countries to ensure that every developing country has an effective safety net which is also sustainable.
The second challenge is the need to expand development in countries that are often forgotten, especially those that are in a fragile state or facing conflict.
He said that there are a number of regions and countries constantly undergoing cycles of conflict and instability that cannot achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The third challenge is to ensure that the achieved economic growth can be sustained among others by modernizing the economic structure and government programs, especially in middle-income countries.
"They have to create quality jobs in line with the expectations of their citizens," he said.
Finally, the fourth challenge is to make the economic growth be achieved inclusively.
The last challenge is important because there are developing countries that improve the welfare of their middle class but ignore the poor population.
Therefore, Jim Young Kim stressed that respect for individual rights, rule of law, justice and governance should be in line with inclusive development, which can be achieved by making institutions in a country become more open and accountable.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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