36 TRADE & FINANCE
GOALS TO END EXTREME
POVERTY BY 2030
Jim Yong Kim, President, World
Bank Group
Good morning. Welcome to the
2015 World Bank Group-IMF
Annual Meetings. It’s great to be
in Lima. Peru has been a wonderful host
and we’re grateful for all it has done to
prepare for our arrival.
Just a few days ago, we announced that for the
first time the percentage of people living in extreme
poverty around the world will likely fall to under 10
percent this year, to 9.6 percent globally. This is
the best story in the world. Our goals at the World
Bank Group are to end extreme poverty by 2030
and to boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40
percent in developing countries. While we remain
confident of ending extreme poverty, the final
stretch will be extremely difficult because we are
in the midst of a period of slow global growth,
the end of the commodity super-cycle, pending
interest rate hikes, and continued flight of capital
out of emerging markets.
After a decade of strong growth and tremendous
social progress, Latin America, like other regions,
is facing these headwinds. We forecast that the
region will experience -0.3 percent growth for 2015
with a slight improvement to 1.1 percent in 2016.
The slowdown poses a threat to hard-won social
gains, and countries must now adapt. Countries
in Latin America need to increase productivity,
access to quality education, and ensure that the
state is more efficient in providing social services.
The region can promote inclusive growth through
reforms that enable it take advantage of its
openness to global trade. The recently completed
Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations could be
very good news for the region, even with Mexico,
Chile, and Peru as the only Latin American
countries taking part. The TPP’s potential influence
on the world economy could help boost the
region’s growth.
I have two other issues to talk ab