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Rural Finance Strategy

This document builds on Bank efforts over the past year to define a strategy to carry out the mandates of the Eighth Replenishment related to the development of rural financial markets. The 1994 Agreement for the Eighth Replenishment of the IDB’s capital specifically calls for a commitment to reduce poverty and social exclusion through a “wide range of activities …[including] rural development, job creation, particularly through the microenterprise and business sectors… [and] actions to boost the production capacity of small farmers.”

The rural finance strategy is the result of an extensive process of background research and external and internal consultation. Civil society organizations, academics, the governments of the region, and institutions active in rural finance reviewed the profile and annotated outlines for the strategy and provided comments. The document was also the subject of consultations with an interdepartmental rural finance strategy group, chaired by SDS/MIC and consisting of representatives from each of the three regional departments, the Multilateral Investment Fund, various central department divisions, and the Office of the Presidency. A paper on the lessons learned in IDB rural lending operations was also prepared to support this strategy.