Princess Maxima and IFC to host G-20 SME Finance Working Group Meeting

Microfinance Focus, May 25, 20101: HRH Princess Maxima of Netherlands, the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development and International Finance Corporation (IFC), will be hosting a G20 SME Finance Working Group meeting on May 25th, 2010 in The Hague. The meeting will bring together senior experts from international and regional institutions to explore practices in measuring small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME) access to financial services. The meeting will focus on identifying ways of measuring and tracking access to financial services for small business that contribute significantly to employment, poverty reduction, and economic growth.

G-20 leaders announced at the Pittsburgh Summit in 2009 their commitment to supporting the safe and sound spread of new modes of financial service delivery capable of reaching the poor.  Under this initiative, the G-20 SME Finance Group, co-chaired by Germany and South Africa, is leading an effort to establish a comprehensive and consistent way to measure and track the progress over time of business access to financial services in the developing world. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is providing support for this working group meeting.

Key speakers at the meeting include Peer Stein of IFC, Rita Ramalho of World Bank, Susanne Dorasil, Chair of German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Shepherd Muzamba, representing the Co-Chair, South Africa and Princess Maxima. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. Its new investments totalled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis.

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