Amid deepening international financial panic, the World Bank has slashed its 2009 growth forecasts for Latin America and expects several countries in the region to ask it for emergency cash at its annual meeting this week.

With plunging stock markets and currencies, evaporating credit lines and sinking prices for the commodities that have made many Latin American economies boom, the bank now expects regional growth of 2.5 to 3.5 per cent next year, according to Pamela Cox, vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean.