Bangkok--Nov 22--UNISBKK
Microentrepreneurs Ring in the Year by Opening Stock Exchanges around the World
The United Nations launches the International Year of
Microcredit today in an effort to build support for making financial
services more accessible to poor and low-income people. It will aim to
raise public awareness about microcredit and microfinance, and promote
innovative partnerships among governments, donors, international
organizations, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academia
and microfinance clients.
The Year's overarching goal is to provide greater access to credit,
savings, insurance, transfer remittances and other financial services for
poor and low-income households in order to move towards more secure
livelihoods and prosperous futures.
"The world has set an ambitious course to meet the Millennium Development Goal of cutting in half, by 2015, the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day. Microfinance is a powerful tool to help us get
there," said Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Although microcredit and microfinance have already had a positive impact on the household income and quality of life of millions of poor people, many still lack access to financial services that could raise their standard of
living and protect them against economic setbacks. Billions of people could
benefit from financial services, although today only a tiny fraction of
this demand is being met. To meet this huge gap in services, the Year calls
for constructing inclusive financial sectors that strengthen the powerful,
but often untapped, entrepreneurial spirit that exists all over the world.
"By viewing poor people as vital contributors to their local and national economies, the International Year of Microcredit 2005 has the potential to unleash a new wave of microentrepreneurship, giving poor and low-income
people a chance to build better lives," said Jos? Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).
Launch observances are beginning the day with the ringing of opening bells at stock exchanges around the world by microentrepreneurs from Cambodia,
the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Mexico, Rwanda and the United States.
The participants are all recipients of the Global Microentrepreneur Awards
coordinated by Harvard Business School and other graduate schools. In New
York, local microentrepreneur award winners are scheduled to open the
NASDAQ market, while nine exchanges from Karachi to Zurich and from Manila
to Maputo are also taking part in this coordinated initiative.
"Stock exchanges play an essential role in efficiently allocating capital in national economies and globally," said Stanley Fischer, Vice Chair of
Citigroup and Chair of the Advisors Group for the International Year of
Microcredit 2005. "Today, the world's stock markets are focusing on the
people to whom this Year is dedicated: microfinance clients."
At opening celebrations at UN Headquarters in New York and elsewhere
throughout the world, experts will address the challenge of expanding the
reach of microfinance by identifying best practices and the hurdles to wider availability.
Another primary aim of the Year is to increase public awareness about the reliability of microfinance clients, especially women, in repaying loans,
managing household incomes, building assets and enterprises and contributing to the economy.
One key need is to collect and analyze hard data on the state of
microfinance: its availability by region, client profiles, and types and quantities of services offered. As part of the Year's activities, a Data Project will bring together expert statisticians and researchers from the Bretton Woods Institutions and the UN, in collaboration with governments and the private sector, to address current data gaps, anticipate future needs, and build agreement on the best way forward for donors, private investors and practitioners.
In addition, the "Blue Book" project will seek to identify constraints and opportunities for the promotion of inclusive financial sectors, culminating
in recommendations of concrete actions that countries can take to make microfinance an integral part of national financial systems.
The UN General Assembly has designated the UN Capital Development Fund
(UNCDF) and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) as focal points to coordinate the activities of the United Nations system for the International Year of Microcredit 2005.
For media information about the Year of Microcredit 2005, please contact:
Emily Krasnor, tel: +1-212-906-6308, [email protected]
Adam Rogers, tel: +1-212-906-6082, [email protected]
Oisika Chakrabarti, tel: +1-212-963-8264, [email protected] End.