World Bank

It expects the world economy to grow by just 1.7 percent this year - a sharp decrease from the 3 percent it predicted in June.

The report blames a number of factors stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the impact of the pandemic.

The effects of higher interest rates are picked out as the key challenge for policy makers to overcome.

World Bank president David Malpass said the downturn would be "broad-based" and growth in people's earnings in almost every part of the world was likely to "be slower than it was during the decade before Covid-19".

It comes after the recent launching of the Vanuatu Affordable and Resilient Settlement (VARS) Project by the Vanuatu Government and World Bank.

The project will cover 23 unplanned settlements identified by Vanuatu authorities.

Ministry of Lands director-general Henry Vira has welcomed the assistance from World Bank.

Building on a reform program that began in 2020 – designed to support the implementation of stronger risk mitigation and prevention actions across the country – the Vanuatu Second Disaster Risk management Development Policy Grant with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option supports key aspects of Vanuatu’s new Disaster Recovery and Resilience Act and its Physical Planning Act. Together these will help improve risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery from future disasters, which often disproportionally impact vulnerable ni-Vanuatu communities.

The Vanuatu Affordable and Resilient Settlements Project will establish a new, exemplary urban expansion area and improve infrastructure in several existing settlements in Port Vila. The work will ensure urban settlements are safer and better equipped to provide residents with access to critical services such as schools, sanitation, and roads.

His comments on the subject, made during a call with reporters on World Bank economic forecasts, came as WTO negotiations over the proposed waiver resumed in Geneva.

Asked whether he backs a WTO vaccine IP waiver, which India, South Africa and other emerging market countries argue is needed to expand vaccine access, Malpass said: "We don't support that, for the reason that it would run the risk of reducing the innovation and the R&D in that sector."

The project design and supervision consultant contract has been finalised and signed by the Korea Consultants International Co Ltd (KCI).

Detail survey, design and procurement of works will start this month and the phase 1 that will last for 12 months before the 2nd phase of the construction supervision that will take 36 months during actual works construction.

The pandemic is compounding the forces of conflict and climate change, which were already slowing poverty reduction, the bank said.

By 2021, this could rise to as many as 150 million, it added.

Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 (£1.50) a day.

The projected increase would be the first since 1998, when the Asian financial crisis shook the global economy.

Before the pandemic struck, the extreme poverty rate was expected to drop to 7.9% in 2020.

The emergency funding will support the government’s ongoing work to protect Vanuatu from the global COVID-19 pandemic and boost its capacity to respond to the immediate economic impacts, at a time when government is also facing significant response needs associated with last week’s Category Five Tropical Cyclone Harold.

The project involves the upgrade of the vital 65-kilometre South Santo Road, on Vanuatu’s second most-populated island of Espiritu Santo, to guard against potential climate impacts and natural disaster risks.

The project will significantly improve access to markets and essential services and contribute to faster, safer and more reliable road transport in Santo island.

Wider impacts will be felt across the country with 10 percent of Vanuatu’s total population to see benefits from the works and technical assistance.

Vanuatu is considered to be one of the countries most at risk to natural disasters in the world. The new World Bank operation, which provides US$10 million that can be activated in the event of a major disaster, is supporting reforms that will deliver stronger risk mitigation and prevention actions in Vanuatu. These reforms are helping to shift Vanuatu’s disaster risk management system from a focus on response/emergency management, to a greater emphasis on risk reduction, climate adaptation and longer-term recovery.