Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. World Bank /IMF Report says Global Economic Crisis Takes Long-Term Toll on Development Joe DeCapua 23 April 2010 Photo: AP An unidentified resident stands in front of a poor apartment in Lagos, Nigeria Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006. The International Day of the Eradication of Poverty is marked worlwide Tuesday with the aim of eradicating absolute poverty and reducing overall poverty substantially in the world .(AP Photo/George Osodi) A new report says, âThe global economic crisis has âslowed the pace of poverty reduction in developing countries â and is hampering progress toward other Millennium Development Goals.â The World Bank and International Monetary Fund Friday released their Global Monitoring Report 2010. World Bank Lead Economist and report author Delfin Go, says, âThe main pointâ¦is that although the recovery is underway there will be lasting and permanent impacts on development prospects and outcomes for years to come.â He says the global economic crisis slowed much of the development-related gains that had been made. âPrior to the crisis, a lot of progress was being made on some of these⦠Millennium Development Goals. As a result of the crisis, there will be persistent gaps and some of the poverty numbers will be slowing down. So the reduction of poverty will not be as much as before,â he says. Go also expects to see delayed progress in child education completion rates, as well as child and maternal mortality rates. A bright spot The report says 53 million more people will remain in âextreme poverty by 2015,â when the MDGs are due to be reached. Nevertheless, there is a bright spot in the findings. The report says despite the economic crisis, âthe number of extreme poor could total around 920 million five years from now, marking a significant decline from the 1.8 billion people living in extreme poverty in 1990.â Based on this projection, the World Bank and IMF say itâs still possible for the developing world to achieve at least one MDG â that of halving extreme poverty â from its 1990 level. In a statement, the financial institutions say the IMF âprovided the resources and policy advice to help prevent the crisis from spinning out of control,â while the World bank group and others âsought to protect core development programs and strengthen the private sector.â OXFAM Elizabeth Stuart, spokesperson for the International aid agency OXFAM, is reacting to the Global Monitoring Report, calling the findings âshocking news.â She adds, âItâs a very, very clear statement from the World Bank and the IMF that the effects of the global economic crisis really arenât over in developing countries.â Stuart says rich nations are seeing signs of recovery, but âfor developing countries, âthe worst is yet to come for this crisis.â Recent OXFAM research finds developing nations are being forced to cut âvital spendingâ on health care, education and agriculture. âThis means that the poorest people in the poorest countries are going to be feeling the impact of this crisis more and more and more. And remember that this is a crisis that they had nothing to do with. This was caused by the rich worldâs bankers,â she says. Reacting to the long-term projected declline in âextreme poor,â Stuart says, âIt does seem to have that silver lining. I think whatâs very clear is that all sub-Saharan African countries are going to miss the Millennium Development Goals. Weâre just five years away from the deadline.â   The OXFAM spokesperson says, âJust at the time when (developing countries) should be really increasing spending on things like health and education, so they can hire teachers and doctors and nurses, theyâre having to cut it because their revenues have been hit so hard.â Recommendations At the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, leaders made commitments to increase aid to Africa and other developing regions.  âWe just in the last couple of weeks have the latest aid figures out and aid is actually falling. So our number one call is of course that the rich world needs to live up to its promises,â she says. OXFAM is also calling on developing countries themselves to continue âprioritizing spendingâ on health and education and agriculture, despite the economic crisis. Stuart calls such spending âessentialâ for them to have a chance of achieving the MDGs on time. OXFAM also says the IMF needs to change the way it does business. âAt the moment the IMF can only give loans to poor countries. These poor countries risk getting into debt again because theyâre trying to deal with a crisis that was caused by rich world bankers,â she says. Many economists and groups, like OXFAM, have long called for changes in the IMF, saying its structural adjustment polices created more problems than they solved and put many countries deeply in debt. Theyâre calling on the IMF to provide grants instead of loans.  .