World Bank President Robert Zoellick has urged US President Barack Obama to do more to help fight global poverty, which he said was "much cheaper than bailing out AIG (American International Group)," according to The New York Times on Friday.

"Starting with the United States, Mr. Obama should call for each developed country to pledge 0.7 percent of its stimulus package to a vulnerability fund for assisting developing countries that can't afford bailouts and deficits," Zoellick said in an article published by The New York Times on Friday.

"The US could begin by pledging some 6 billion dollars of its own 825 billion dollar stimulus package -- just 4 percent of what was provided to American International Group," said Zoellick. "With this modest step, the United States would speed up global recovery, help the world's poor and bolster its foreign policy influence."

The World Bank chief warned that there is no time to waste for "the economic crisis has already pushed an estimated 100 million people back into poverty."

"Slumping exports have helped imperil the jobs of workers around the world. In many places foreign and domestic investment is frozen. So far we have avoided the currency collapses of 1997 and 1998, but 2009 will be a dangerous year," he warned.

Zoellick noted that poor people in Africa should not pay the price for a crisis that originated in America.

"The total aid from developed countries is about US$100 billion a year, a modest sum in light of developing countries' needs," he said.

The United Nations target for aid is 0.7 percent of an economy, while the United States contribution is about 0.2 percent, "although polls consistently show the American public is willing to contribute much more," said the World Bank chief.

"Support for a vulnerability fund can help limit the depth and length of the international downturn, prevent the contagion of social unrest and help save a generation from a new poverty trap," Zoellick stressed.

"For less than one percent of America's stimulus package, President Obama can lead the G-20 in London and reintroduce America to the world," he added.