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Poorest countries in worst financial shape since 2006, World Bank says

Low-income countries still poorer than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, report finds.

The world’s 26 poorest countries are deeper in debt than at any time since 2006 and increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters and other shocks, the World Bank has said.

The poorest economies are worse off today than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the rest of the world has largely recovered, the Washington, DC-based lender said in a report released on Sunday.

Per capita income fell an average of 14 percent between 2020 and 2024 due to COVID-19 and subsequent overlapping crises, according to the report.

To meet critical development goals, the economies will need additional annual investment equivalent to 8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) through 2030 – double the average annual investment of the past decade, the World Bank said.