Optimistic forecast for third-world economies

Economic growth in most developing countries should pick up over the next decade, the World Bank said. But the pace of the expansion will depend on the strength of recovery in industrial nations.

In one of its most optimistic forecasts in recent years, the bank projected economic growth of 4.4 percent a year in the developing world from 1982 through 1985, and 5.5 percent a year for 1985 through 1995. But even with higher growth, the outlook for some of the world's poorest countries remains somber.