Up to 38 million people in East Asian and Pacific countries will be pushed into poverty by the coronavirus crisis, the World Bank has said. It will be the region’s first increase in poverty in 20 years.
Tens of millions of people living in East Asian and the Pacific countries would have risen out of poverty this year. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit.
This is according to “From Containment to Recovery,” the latest report from World Bank, which assesses the damage the pandemic has caused in the East Asian and Pacific (EAP) region and considers possible roads to recovery.