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Microcredit experts stress balanced, careful approach
WASHINGTON. Feb 6: Two decades after the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh launched what is now called the "microcredit revolution." those with experience in providing small loans to the very poor say that such programme are effective, but only as one of many necessary tools of development, according to USIS.
''Microfinance requires a balanced and careful approach... and needs to be combined with complementary measures to make real inroads in poverty reduction," Fawzi Al-Sultan. president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said in a speech to the first-ever Micro-credit Summit, held from February 2-4 in Washington.
Those measures Include access to better technologies, health care, education, fair markets and adequate infras-
tructure. Al-Sultan said.
He was among 2.000 summit participants from more than 100 countries who approved a Plan of Action for raising 21.600 million dollars in microcredit funding over the next nine years. The goal is to make small loans and other financial services available to 100 million of the world's poorest families by the year 2005 — 92 million more than are currently being served.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. a featured speaker at the opening plenary session, praised the Summit for providing the "perfect opportunity for practitioners, NGO's saving and credit cooperatives, foundations, educational and religious institutions, governments, and leaders in finance and business to take a pivotal next step in creating a poverty-free world."
During her opening remarks. she announced her commitment and the commitment of the Government of Bangladesh "to this multifaceted global campaign of innovation. courage, and determination."
Hasina predicted that "this campaign will become one of the great humanitarian movements of history.”
About half of the funds would be raised through grants and concessional loans from multilateral banks, private or-§anizations. and bilateral onors — most of which were represented at the summit.
In addition to high-level members of the Clinton administration — including Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and First Lady Hillary Clinton — a bipartisan group of legislators led by Representative Tony Hall (Democrat of Ohio) announced
plans to introduce legislation that would increase "US funding . for overseas microcredit programme from 118 million dollars to 170 million dollars this year.
The United Nations Development Programme announced creation of "MicroStart," a 41 million dollars effort to expand the availability of microcredit in 25 developing countries.
World Bank officials highlighted their approval last year of a 100-milIion dollars concessional credit to help more than 100 non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh expand microlending to some 1.2 million poor and mostly female borrowers. The Bank has also funded microcredit programmes for rural communities in Albania and victims of war Jn Bosnia.