Bangladesh's Yunus criticises World Bank for failure to cut poverty

DHAKA (AFP) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus told the head of the World Bank on Sunday that its failure to modernise anti-poverty lending programmes and include more local input has made its work ineffective.

The "World Bank was created nearly 60 years ago. In this 60 years the world has changed a lot, but the World Bank has not changed its style," Yunus said after meeting new World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who is visiting Bangladesh to review lending programmes.

"It was created to eradicate poverty. It cannot achieve the objectives for which it was created," Yunus said. "I've told them that you've forgotten the people. If you cannot involve the people in your work, poverty won't be reduced."

Yunus was honoured with the Nobel last October for his Grameen Bank which specialises in lifting people out of extreme poverty by giving them small ...