Zoellick. File photo taken from www.congresscheck.com

Roseau, Dominica: World Bank President Robert Zoellick says there are various risks to the current economic recovery that the Caribbean and the world are facing.

Zoellick told a press briefing amid the intersessional CARICOM Heads of Government Summit at the Fort Young Hotel’s VIP room on Thursday, that while the world is trying to recover from the global financial crisis, unemployment is likely to remain very high.

“The good news is that we are in this economic recovery, but I don’t think it’s as strong as people would hope. The unemployment will have a lot of negative impacts for various financial institutions and it will limit their ability to address credit,” he said.

Zoellick also noted that stimulus programmes of various countries will also suffer as a result.

“What it comes back down to is that we as a financial institution have tried to support developing countries, but also recognize that they are now a source of demand and growth in the world.

He said since the crisis hit, the World Bank has done over 90 billion dollars of private sector financing.

“Given the uncertainty in the nature of the recovery, the World Bank will not be able to play certain roles like assisting countries in need,” he added.