This background report on how developing countries are coping with the economic crisis, was prepared by the World Bank for Ministers at the upcoming G20 meeting in London. The sharp global contraction is affecting both advanced and developing countries. Global industrial production declined by 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, as high income and developing country activity plunged by 23 and 15 percent, respectively. Particularly hard hit have been countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and producers of capital goods.