The coronavirus pandemic could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty, CNN quoted the the World Bank as saying on Tuesday.

The warning suggests deepening pessimism among economists about the scale and duration of the fallout from what the bank described as an "unprecedented crisis."

The World Bank, which provides loans and grants to the governments of poorer countries, predicted a month ago that this year would mark a historic step back for inequality, with the pandemic "likely to cause the first increase in global poverty since 1998."

Read the full report here.