ACCRA: The world is capable of ending global poverty in the next 15 years if countries make tough decisions to enact reforms that will spur growth, the president of the World Bank Group (WBG) said on Friday during a visit to Ghana.

Nations must also invest in their people and provide insurance so citizens don’t fall back into poverty, said World Bank Group Head Jim Yong Kim. He spoke in the capital, Accra, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Kim said the World Bank wants to improve the lives of people around the world and has two goals: ‘end poverty by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40 per cent of the population in developing countries’.

However, he cautioned that reducing poverty by 2030 ‘will be extraordinarily difficult, especially during this time of low global economic growth, low commodity prices and pending interest rate hikes’.