The 2008 financial crisis rocked the world, affecting the poor more than most. This year alone, some 64 million people will see their salaries slide below $1.25 a day, the World Bank estimates. Another 40 million will go hungry – lots of critical development budgets will starve, too.
“What the financial crisis most certainly did, is it knocked so many countries sideways,” says World Bank spokesman Phil Hay.
But there's a silver lining.
The crisis cast a harsh, critical light down the halls of governments, disabusing autocrats of their delusions of competence, says Liesbet Steer of the London-based Overseas Development Institute.
“There is definitely a consensus that the crisis affected the world’s poorest the most,” she says. “But there’s also a consensus now that with good governance, and good poverty reduction targets, a crisis can be offset, and nations can be resilient.”
