Ahead of an international summit on the crisis this weekend, Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, said it would be an “error of historic proportions” to ignore the interests of developing states whose projected growth rates have been slashed in the wake of the crisis.

As requests for aid continued to come in from around the world, he forecast the Bank would provide up to $100bn in loans over the next three years through its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development arm. He said the IBRD would increase loans available for developing countries to more than $35bn this year, up from about $16bn planned a few months ago. Last year, such aid totalled $13.5bn.

“You are seeing countries that had very good, sound macroeconomic programmes – Mexico, Indonesia – that are in a position where . . . they are not at financial risk but they are worried about . . . getting financing,” Mr Zoellick said. “These are the types of countries – Colombia, others – that we are offering as much support as we can.”