Nobel prize good news for all the poor--winner

OSLO, Oct 13 (Reuters) The Bangladeshi banker who won the Nobel Peace Prize today for lending to the poorest of the poor said the award was good news for those living in poverty around the globe.

''This is fantastic news for all of us, for Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, and all the poor countries and all the poor people all around the world,'' Muhammad Yunus told Norwegian television after news that he and his Grameen Bank were sharing the prize.

He said the Nobel Peace Prize was the pinnacle of recognition after the several awards he had already received for his work of lending to the poor, mainly women.

''This is the last prize. That's what's so special about it ... it's the sky,'' he said.

But the award also highlighted the huge task ahead in ridding the world of poverty.

''It's very happy news for me and also for the nation. But it has burdened us with further responsibility. Bangladesh now must remove poverty from the country and also put in more effort to eradicate poverty from the world,'' he told Reuters from his home in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.

''Now the war against poverty will be further intensified across the world. It will consolidate the struggle against poverty through microcredit in most of the countries.'' ''There should be no poverty, anywhere.'' He said Grameen Bank had 6.6 million borrowers, 96 per cent of them women.

Yunus said he was looking forward to visiting Oslo to receive the prize on December. 10. ''Definitely, I'm going to come,'' he said.

REUTERS SP RK1625