World Bank names 28 financially strained states

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new World Bank report on Thursday named 28 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East facing financial strains due to high food and fuel costs and now from a cascading credit crisis.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the world should not forget the "human rescue" needed in developing countries as it focussed on the spreading market crisis.

Among the "fiscally vulnerable" countries are Jordan, Cambodia, Lebanon, Jamaica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Fiji, Haiti, Seychelles and Mauritania.

The report, published ahead of weekend International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings of finance and development ministers, said many of these countries had little or no room to take on new debt to afford the higher prices.

It said resource-rich developing countries had the means to cushion the current account impact of costlier food and fuel. But inflation is rising and they could be afflicted by "Dutch disease," a phenomenon in which high revenues from natural resources lead to a strengthening of a currency.

"Over recent weeks, attention has focussed on the size of financial package, and on the impact on Main Street," Zoellick told a news conference ahead of the meetings.

"There are Main Streets all over the world. We must look beyond the financial rescue to the human rescue," he added.

Zoellick said the World Bank was tentatively forecasting growth in developing countries could slow to around 4 percent, significantly lower than its April forecast of 6.6 percent.