EU: Access to finance major problem for SMEs

30 September 2009 in Banking, Economy, Entrepreneurship, European Union, Microfinance

The European Commission published the results of the new ”Flash Eurobarometer: SMEs’ access to finance”. The survey, conducted with 9071 firms in 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Iceland and Norway, was set up to assess EU companies’ use of various sources of finance, to get a picture of the magnitude of companies’ difficulties in getting [...]

AL-INVEST IV: A bridge between EU and Latin American SMEs

30 September 2009 in Banking, Clusters, Economy, Entrepreneurship, European Union, Networks, Trade
Tags: Latin America

The fourth phase of AL-INVEST, financed by the European Commission, aims at supporting the internationalisation of Latin American SMEs in collaboration with their European partners in order to contribute to reinforce social cohesion in the region. Unlike the previous phases, the fourth phase of the AL-INVEST (2009-2012) is implemented through three groups of business organisations [...]

Launch of a new financial product for development

30 September 2009 in Banking, Development, Microfinance

AFD and Crédit Agricole Asset Management have launched CAAM AFD Avenirs durables (Sustainable Futures), an innovative mutual fund that allows savers to participate in financing projects in developing countries. This innovative product aims to create new sources of financing for development, while at the same time meeting the demands of savers seeking socially responsible investments [...]

CfP: The Microinsurance Innovation Facility

30 September 2009 in Banking, Development, Microfinance, Research

The Microinsurance Innovation Facility and the European Development Research Network (EUDN) invite academic researchers to submit proposals for research that will contribute new knowledge to support microinsurance development in developing countries. Deadline: 30 October 2009. http://www.eudnet.net/microinsurance.html

World Bank investigators and OLAF jointly target aid fraud

3 July 2009 in Banking, Development, European Union
Tags: World Bank

The joint fight against fraud affecting development aid is at the centre of a co-operation agreement signed today in Brussels between the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the World Bank’s Integrity Vice-Presidency. The World Bank is the trustee of significant funds from the EU. The agreement will allow investigators from both institutions’ anti-fraud and anti-corruption [...]

Helping developing countries during the financial crisis

2 May 2009 in Africa, Asia, Banking, Caribbean, Crisis, Development, Economy, European Union, OECD, Poverty, Publications

Developing countries are severely hit by the global economic crisis. The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies, recognising that the global financial crisis has ‘a disproportionate impact’ on vulnerable people in poor countries, have promised to make hundreds of billions of United States dollars available to these countries as part of a $1.1 trillion [...]

OECD countries reaffirmed commitments to open trade and aid

3 February 2009 in Banking, Crisis, Development, European Union, OECD, WTO

OECD countries have pledged to abstain from trade protectionism as part of a concerted drive to shore up the world economy and combat recession. They also have reaffirmed their commitments on aid to developing countries. Already in November 2008, at a meeting of the OECD’s Executive Committee in Special Session, OECD countries agreed to sustain [...]

The Global Financial Crisis: What does it mean for microfinance?

3 February 2009 in Africa, Asia, Banking, Crisis, Economy, Microfinance

In most past financial crises – like those of the 1990s in Asia, Mexico, and Russia – financial services for poor people have been remarkably resilient. In fact, the quality of the loan portfolios of microfinance institutions (MFIs) during the Asian crisis and in Latin America during various banking crises barely quivered, while corporate portfolios [...]

ADB Approves Measures to Enhance Operations Evaluation Function

3 February 2009 in Banking, Development
Tags: Asia, Evaluation, M&E

The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors today approved a series of measures to further enhance the independence and overall effectiveness of ADB’s operations evaluation function.
”These initiatives will further enhance the independence and effectiveness of ADB’s evaluation function and will place it at the forefront of international evaluation practice,” said Executive Director, Mr Phil [...]

Conditional cash transfer programmes: a useful step in the fight against poverty

26 April 2008 in Banking, Migration, Remittances
Tags: Banking

Conditional cash transfer programmes constitute an important tool for reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion – two key objectives of the International Labour Organization. Mexico has one of the most successful programmes of this type, which was recently the focus of a seminar at the ILO headquarters in Geneva. But as it was clear from [...]

World Bank: Global Economic Prospects 2008

1 April 2008 in Banking, Development, Economy

World Bank: Global Economic Prospects 2008
Technology Diffusion in the Developing World
Rapid technological progress in developing countries has helped to raise incomes and reduce the share of people living in absolute poverty from 29 percent in 1990 to 18 percent in 2004, says the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects 2008.
”Technological progress increased 40 to 60 [...]