Monday, August 15, 2005

[China] Rural financing key to poverty reduction in S. Asia: experts

From Xinhuanet

KATHMANDU, Aug. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- South Asian experts including senior banking officials of Nepal on Monday called upon all concerned financial institutions and agencies to strengthen rural financing to effectively reduce poverty in the region.

"The contribution of the agriculture sector for achieving economic growth in the subcontinent has remained much below our expectations, despite the engagement of 6 percent populace," BijayNath Bhattarai, governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), said at an international seminar on "Development of Rural Financing Institutions and Cooperatives".

"Transforming agriculture sector to get it commercialized has been a great challenge in the region," Bhattarai said, adding, "there is no alternative to making agriculture sector more productive to contribute in alleviating poverty in the entire region."

There has been very nominal investment in the agriculture sector and the financial services are largely urban centered, leaving large rural population with a minimal access to any kind of formal financial services and this has left the agriculture sector quite behind in capital formation in comparison to other sectors, Bhattarai said.

In order to better manage and facilitate rural financing, NRB has recently recommended formulating national micro-finance policy,Bhattarai added.

"The policy and programs of government are directed towards reduction of poverty by increasing effective investment to achieve socio-economic development in rural areas," Bhanu Prasad Acharya, finance secretary of Nepal, said on the occasion.

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