Yunus slates financial apartheid against poor

Nobel Laureate and Grameen Bank founder Prof Muhammad Yunus has criticised the existing international financial institutions for shutting out the world’s poor from receiving their credit. While delivering the keynote address at the international conference to commemorate the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Satyagraha’ form of political movement here yesterday, Prof Yunus also advocated the concept of social business to address socio-economic problems. ”Two-third of the world’s population do not have access to the financial services of these institutions. This is a form of financial apartheid,” he said. Prof Yunus said the significance of his getting the Nobel Prize for Peace was the relation between peace and poverty. ”Poverty is a threat to peace,” he said adding ”it is impossible for us to think of peace when 60 percent of the world’s population lives in poverty.” Referring to the menace of terrorism, he said, ”we have to fight terrorism but not through military action, but by addressing its root cause, which is poverty.” http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/01/30/d7013001044.htm