The World Bank has announced that it will triple its social safety net spending. This amounts to 12 billion dollars over the next two years “to help developing nations weather the global financial crisis.”

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The World Bank said it was increasing investments in social protection programs in health and education “to protect the most vulnerable people from the worst effects of the global economic crisis.”
The investments will be in the form of loans to governments to finance the creation or the improvement of programs for the poor.

“This lending includes rapid social response programs and conditional cash transfers, where families are granted money transfers in exchange for sending their children to school and for regular medical checkups,” the 185-nation development lender said in a statement.

-Chris Scott