The World Bank (WB) said on Tuesday that 89 million more people would live under the international poverty line due to the unprecedented economic crisis.

WB Vice President and Chief Economist Justin Yifu Lin said those people would join the under-poverty-line group by 2010 which already has 1.4 billion people.

Lin, who attended the international conference themed "Challenges and strategies to promote the economic growth", said that although the international economic crisis had a far-reaching impact on many economies, the market-oriented economy was still the best way to distribute capital and resources in and among countries.

He disagreed with the opinion that the current crisis meant the need to return to the models of planned economies or to have strong governmental investment.

The model of market economy is "more competitive," Lin said, adding that history had proved planned or government-controlled economies were not efficient.

Lin also maintained that developing countries had more options in coping with economic crisis than developed ones, which have mature economic systems and are less malleable.

He said that as long as the interest rates in developing economies were kept low, there would be enough incentives for businessmen to invest in new technologies and industries, which is good for economic recovery and industrial modernization.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2009)