World Bank Stokes Lehman Brothers Fears In Latest Report

The World Bank warned this week of the very real risk of a Lehman Brothers style credit crunch.

Emerging markets will have to brace for impact in 2012, no matter what happens. The Mayan apocalypse might just look a lot like 2008, according to the Bank. In a report released in Beijing on Wednesday, the World Bank says it expects the Eurozone will post no growth at all in 2012 and overall developed markets, which at this point just includes Japan and the U.S. in a stumbling potato sack race, growing at just 1.4%. That’s down from 2.7% in June 2011.

“Developing countries need to evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare for further shocks, while there is still time,” said Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics....more