Dear RFILC members,

In this month’s newsletter, we are pleased to give you updates on the latest insights from the rural finance and investment sphere.

The first highlight of this month is the case study on warehouse receipt (WHR) financing in Pakistan, published by Karandaaz Pakistan with financial support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This study is an assessment of the current status of WHR financing in Pakistan, realized through in-depth interviews with current and potential users, as well as suppliers and regulators of the scheme. An analysis of the price trends of major agricultural commodities over the last five years reveals that WHR financing could be a viable source of credit for wheat, rice, cotton and maize farmers in Pakistan. Yet, the study finds that the development of WHR financing in Pakistan is still in its infancy. Although concrete measures have been taken towards the implementation of WHR financing, there are several gaps in the regulatory, institutional and infrastructural frameworks that are required for the effective operation of the model in Pakistan. The study draws recommendations in order for WHR financing to take for an upsurge in the country. You can read more about this study by clicking the following link.

The second highlight of this month is a paper on the role of insurance in integrated disaster and climate risk management published by the GIZ. This paper reviews empirical evidence related to when and how insurance can contribute to disaster and climate risk management. Aspects explored include the contribution of insurance to relating to, or even creating the macro-conditions for, resilience to disasters in terms of public finance, economic growth and good governance; the contribution of insurance to risk prevention, preparedness, response and recovery; and the factors that influence the provision of insurance by companies and governments, as well as the uptake of insurance by governments and households. Findings and conclusions from the empirical review are provided, and links are drawn with the key concepts of risk layering and Integrated Climate Risk Management.  More information can be found on the following link.

The third highlight of the month is the Chinese translation of the FAO publication on “Agricultural Value Chain Finance: Tools and Lessons”, which provides a global review of experiences on the broad subject of value chain finance for agriculture in developing countries. The document can be accessed through this link, together with the English and French versions of the publication

Finally, the 8th Institutional and Technological Environments of Microfinance (ITEM) on Financial Inclusion will take place under the leading topic of “Financial Inclusion A Sustainable Mission from Microfinance to Alternative Finance. Social and technological Paradigms”. The event will be held on the 7th and 8th December 2017 in Dijon, France, and is organized by the Burgundy School of Business. More information is available here.

With best regards,

The RFILC editorial team