Iraq’s MFIs attend Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders

[Stillw8n]

Iraq’s MFIs attend Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference

Hundreds of officials from Iraq’s 12 microfinance institutions participated in the recently organized Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference in the northern city of Erbil in Iraq.

The conference attracted Iraqi policy makers, international rating institutions, donors, commercial bankers, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), the NGO Directorate and representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

A number of issues affecting the Iraqi Microfinance industry such as institutional reform, transparency, governance, how to better serve vulnerable groups such as youth and women while developing new, demand-driven products and alternative collaterals, strategic business planning and the development of a credit bureau were discussed during the conference.

“Iraq’s microfinance industry supports the economic development and political stability of Iraq by increasing sustainable employment opportunities for Iraqi men, women and youths,” says Hoger Shalli, the chairman of the Bright Future Foundation, a Kurdish NGO established in 2007 and a co-organizer of the conference.

Since 2003, Iraq’s microfinance industry has made 313,300 micro-loans with a total disbursed value of $729 million. There currently are 84,000 active clients with an outstanding loan portfolio of $123 million. Small but strategic business loans range from $500 to $5,000 in size.

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