What does the crisis have in store for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)?
MH: (A) number of Least Developed Countries will be affected. Now, they are not really heavily integrated into global financial markets, but they will be affected to some extent by the changing behaviour of banks that operate in LDCs. In Central and West Africa, many French banks operate there; I think that in Southern Africa we have many English banks operating. Now these banks are under stress in their home countries, and they may be less willing to upkeep operations in LDCs. IPS: Will the LDCs continue to grow? MH: (I)n many ways the indirect effects are much stronger on the LDCs (such as in the case of the) global economic slowdown The IMF has revised its forecast for the year 2009 for the world economy. In April, (it) projected a global growth rate of 3.8 percent. Now, in October, the IMF has projected a growth rate of 3.0 percent for 2009. So global economic growth is down, and growth will be down in all developing regions. (But) it will be down in the developed countries and in
