A United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America report indicates that 15 percent of the population live in extreme poverty, unchanged over the last two decades.

The Inter-American Development Bank reported as well that 150 million people in Latin America live on $2 a day or less, and during the 1990s the gap between rich and poor widened.

Citing the extreme vulnerability of Latin American nations to shifts in the world economy, the bank report says that the "fiscal, financial, and exchange policies in the countries of the region have not yet built up a line of defense against shocks of external origin."

The bank makes $7 billion in loans to Latin American countries each year. Summers is advocating the bank conduct a review of its practices and raise interest rates to the wealthiest Latin American nations, adjusts its lending programs, and shift funds to what he called programs to increase educational levels and fight poverty.

Summers pushed for fewer loans to large infrastructural projects such as dams, but according to press reports was vague with specifics on programs to alleviate poverty.

The bank report notes Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador have seen their currencies devalued and their banking systems weakened. Ecuador, for example, has just approved a "dollarization" plan, replacing the country's currency with the dollar.

The international lending institutions have been pushing implementation of fiscal and tax reforms in Latin America, and for governments there to carry out austerity programs against working people, including cutting social security and selling off to capitalists their national patrimonies.

The New York Times wrote of the meeting that the persistent poverty has "frustrated international financial officials," who expected "rapid economic growth" in Latin America "would lift all boats and ease social tensions more than it has."  
 
 
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