A critical review of the World Bank’s stance on poverty reduction

Since it defined the concept of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), the World Bank has officially made the fight against poverty one of its major priorities. Poverty reduction is now being recognised as the basis for development strategies in poor countries. Rising concern for the issue stems from the fact that, although in income terms the number of poor people has been stable overall for the last ten years or so, poverty has nonetheless increased in all regions of the world except East Asia, where it has fallen significantly.