The world’s poorest nations face devastating consequences if rich countries seek to use the financial crisis as an excuse to renege on their aid commitments to tackle global poverty, a United Nations official warned on Friday.

Salil Shetty, director of the UN Millennium Campaign, told the Financial Times that developing nations are estimated to be facing losses of at least $300bn to their economies up to 2010 as a result of the economic slowdown and are particularly vulnerable to global shocks.