Australia to double microfinance aid

MF Focus, July 16, 2009: Australia’s aid program, AusAID, will over the next few years double its annual microfinance budget from $10 million to $20 million for microfinance projects, said Australian Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance Bob McMullan, at the Pacific Microfinance Week being held in Fiji, reports Fiji Times.
“The beauty of microfinance is that it gives people opportunities they are denied otherwise,” he was quoted to have said. “Your countries still receive a lot of money in remittances — even though the global recession is slowing down the flow for the moment.”
The microfinance program in the Pacific is helping low income households with funding from the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), European Union and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is active in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Samoa. The Pacific Microfinance Week ends on Friday.

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