ADDIS ABABA, (Reuters) - Tens of millions more people  in Africa and elsewhere will be driven into poverty this year  even though the world is recovering from the global financial  crisis, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said yesterday.

“I hope we are now on a path to global recovery,” he told  African leaders at the annual summit of the African Union (AU).
“But we still face considerable risks in 2010 and we have to  repair the damage done by the crisis. It has a human face,” he  said.
“We estimate that 64 million people worldwide will fall into  extreme poverty because of the crisis and an additional 30,000  to 50,000 babies may die in sub-Saharan Africa,” he added.

Zoellick said the bank would use its direct subsidy schemes  to mitigate poverty for the those who are most vulnerable.
He also restated the bank’s promise to raise its financial  commitments to the world’s poorest continent by a minimum of $15  billion over the next two to three years.

World Bank projects in Africa range from fertiliser  procurement in Ethiopia to job programmes in Sierra Leone. The  Washington-based institution invested $3.6 billion in the  infrastructure of sub-Saharan Africa last year.