Image Source: INDIA TODAY

The coronavirus pandemic may have driven as many as 100 million people back into extreme poverty, World Bank President David Malpass warned Thursday in an interview with AFP. The Washington based development lender previously estimated that 60 million people would fall into extreme poverty, but the new estimate puts the deterioration at 70 to 100 million, and he said "that number could go higher" if the pandemic worsens or drags on, which is possible. The crushing economic damage has sprung not just from the virus itself but also from the lockdowns that largely halted business activity across the world. The United States where 174,000 people have died continues to bear the brunt in health terms and is suffering grim economic fallout. The number of Americans filing claims for joblessness each week topped one million again, US officials said on Thursday, an increase on the previous week's figures. Germany will need to take on yet more debt in 2021 to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the economy, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

"Next year we will continue to be forced to suspend the debt rule and spend considerable funds to protect the health of citizens and stabilize the economy," Scholz said in an interview with the Funke media group, referring to Germany's cherished policy of keeping a balanced budget. The government has pledged over a trillion euros in aid to shield companies and citizens in Europe's top economy from the pandemic fallout, including through loans, grants and subsidized shorter-hours programmes.