The coronavirus has interrupted the supposedly inexorable rise of the middle classes. Once a trend on which the hopes of governments and purveyors of everything from shampoo to financial services were predicated, middle-class growth has been partially furloughed. In its place: rising poverty.

According to the World Bank, the pandemic will tip up to 60 million people into extreme poverty – that is, living on less than $US1.90 ($2.76) a day. That will undo the progress made in the past five years.

Financial Times