Developing Nations Falling Behind in Drive to Prosperity, World Bank Says
In a grim assessment of the global economic outlook, the World Bank yesterday said that some of the world's least developed countries already have suffered a slump worse than the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s.</br></br>Although U.S. government officials have shown optimism about the short-term global economic outlook, the present pattern of slow growth among developed nations and in developing countries raises concerns about the longer-term future, said the bank's annual World Development Report.</br></br>The report by the bank's staff was sharply critical of Reagan administration policies, which it said contributed to the "economic turbulence and uncertainty" that have produced high interest rates, declining investment, rising protectionism and high unemployment in Europe.</br></br>Stanley Fisher, chief economist for the bank, acknowledged that "the world economy appears to be in better shape" than when the report was completed a few months ago.</br></br>Fisher acknowledged that the Reagan administration's strategy for dealing with the massive debts of many Third World nations, which avoids debt relief except for impoverished African countries, has left major Latin American debtors in no better shape than they were three years ago.