Helping the poorest with Microcredit

It appears that MUHAMMAD YUNUS of the GRAMEEN BANK, having won the Nobel Peace Prize, has drawn much needed attention to the importance of microloans.

Canadian Foreign Minister Peter Mackay Sunday announced more than 40 million Canadian dollars (about 36 million U.S. dollars) to help microcredit projects in developing countries.

Mackay made the announcement in Halifax, an Atlantic port city, where about 2,000 people gathered for the start of the four-day Global Microcredit Summit.

Microcredit is a system of banking where institutions give small loans to people who do not qualify for a bank loan because they have no credit history.

And it really is having a snowball affect:

Hundreds of delegates from around the world are to gather Sunday in Halifax for a conference to find ways to reach more of the world's needy through microcredit loans.

The innovative small-loan system has helped millions of the world's poorest — especially women — to start their own businesses without any collateral, often with just a few dollars' help.

The conference has set two goals:

* Reaching 175 million of the world's poorest by 2015.
* Ensuring those loans lift at least 100 million people above the dollar-a-day threshold.

As of 2003, 81 million clients around the world have received microcredit, with a repayment rate in the 95-per-cent range, according to lenders.