World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said on Wednesday that the institution will provide more support to develop India’s poorest states as part of its drive to end global poverty within a generation.
Kim, on his first trip to the nation of 1.2 billion people since becoming the bank’s chief last July, said India’s poorest seven states are home to over 200 million who have no access to education, healthcare and other basic services.
“Achieving the World Bank Group’s mission of ending global poverty will require us to step up our support for India’s poorest citizens,” Kim, winding up a three-day visit, told a news conference in New Delhi.
During his trip, Kim held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders and said he gained a deeper understanding of the challenges India faces as it seeks faster and “more inclusive” economic growth.
The Bank said the plan to focus resources on India’s most deprived states would not mean an increase in the $3.0-5.0 billion it lends on average annually to the emerging market giant.
“But over a period of time a higher percentage of the Bank’s support to India would be aimed at the seven low-income states,” said World Bank spokesman Sudip Mozumder.
The seven poorest states represent half of India’s estimated 400 million people living on less than $1.25 a day — the Bank’s definition of dire poverty.
They include two of India’s most populous states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
As president, Kim has been seeking to recast the Bank’s image to make fighting poverty a main focus. He wants the institution to give expertise as well as development loans.
The global public health expert, and first physician to serve as the Bank’s president, travelled to Uttar Pradesh — which has 200 million people — to get a first-hand view of India’s development difficulties.
Around 70 million people in the state live on less than $1.25 a day.
“Eight percent of the world’s poorest live in Uttar Pradesh,” said Kim.
“We want to end poverty in this generation and we are not going to get there without ending poverty in Uttar Pradesh and in India.”
World Bank 'to step up support' for India's poorest
