The global financial crisis has by now stretched across the world, a crisis which emerged in developed countries has already spread to the developing world. Forecasts of growth in developing countries have been downgraded significantly even in recent weeks and months and questions linger:

• How deep, for how long these difficulties will stretch, which countries will be affected more than others, and what are the channels through which this might work?
• What will this mean for long term efforts to promote growth and poverty reduction in developing countries?
• Will the credit crunch turn into a development crunch, or will this be avoided?
• And what are appropriate responses for policy makers and development officials?