Guatemala

Guatemala has been unable to reduce extreme poverty in six years (2000-2006), in spite of efforts to close the gap that principally affects the rural indigenous people, according to a new World Bank report. The lender recommended that the government of President Alvaro Colom improve the levels of education and health, as well as give more attention to chronic malnourishment that affects 49 percent of Guatemalan children under five, one of the highest levels in the world. Also, the World Bank report expressed concerns about the affects the international financial crisis could have, especially with the loss of millions of dollars in remittances and a fall in exports, on the poor. (AFP)