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This book focuses on how the demand for microfinance can be met on a global scale. It documents the contributions of institutions and of people who have led the development of commercial finance for the poor, and it analyzes the principles on which the microfinance revolution is based. In sum, this work offers a detailed overview of the development of microfinance over the past 20 years; a global view of microfinance in the developing world (largely excluding Eastern Europe); a thesis on the future path of microfinance; a coherent theory about microfinance--why it works when so many other development interventions fail; detail on a number of important microfinance topics--such as informal moneylending and savings; an important study on, and lessons from Indonesia, with detailed analysis of Bank Rakyat Indonesia; and, brief studies of many other microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The private health sector was officially recognized in the Republic of Congo over 20 years ago June 6, 1988, establishing the conditions for the independent practice of medicine and the medical-related and pharmaceutical professions. The Congolese government recently expressed its commitment to working with the private health sector in order to strengthen the health system, improve the health of the population and preserve the basic human right to a healthy life through the National Health Care Policy, which it adopted in 2003, the 2007-2011 National Health Development Plan and the 2010 Health Care Services Development Program. Throughout these various documents there is an acknowledgement that the lack of coordination with the private health sector is a weakness of the health system. Nevertheless, the scarcity of information about the private sector in policy and planning documents suggests that the government's engagement with the private health sector is limited. There is no official government policy on the private health sector, or strategies or working plans to encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors. The objective of this assessment was to better determine the role, position, and importance of the private sector within the health system, in order to identify the limitations to its development as well as ways it can be integrated into the efforts to meet the objectives of the Plan national de developpement sanitaire (PNDS) [National Health Development Plan]. The World Bank Group contracted with the Results for Development Institute (R4D, United States) and Health Research for Action (HERA, Belgium) as well as with a team of local consultants, to conduct a 'study of the private health sector in the Republic of Congo.' This study was conducted in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population (MSP), which arranged and oversaw a steering committee consisting of actors from the public and private sectors to facilitate and guide the study. The goal of the study and the workshops was a concrete plan of action for the health sector that could be used by the Congolese government, the private sector in the Republic of Congo, and international development partners. Certain aspects of the action plan should be included in the work programs of the Programme de developpement des services de sante (PDSS) [Health System Development Project] for the years 2011-2013.

This report addresses the large flood exposures of Central Europe and proposes efficient financial and risk transfer mechanisms to mitigate fiscal losses from natural catastrophes. In particular, the Visegrad countries (V-4) of Central Europe, namely, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic, have such tremendous potential flood damages that reliance on budgetary appropriations or even European Union (EU) funds in such circumstances becomes ineffective and does not provide needed cash funds for the quick response and recovery needed to minimize economic disruptions. The report is primarily addressed to the governments of the region, which should build into their fiscal planning the necessary contingent funding mechanisms, based on their exposures. The report is addressed to finance ministries and also to the insurance and securities regulators and the private insurance and capital markets, which may all play a role in the proposed mechanisms. An arrangement using a multi-country pool with a hazard-triggered insurance payout mechanism complemented by contingent financing is proposed, to better manage these risks and avoid major fiscal volatility and disruption.

This chapter contains sections titled: Legislative History and Program Fundamentals Disbursing Funds and Calculating Loans and Interest Changes to the Program Following the 2008 Act Consumer‐Focused Elements of the Program Summary Notes

This chapter contains sections titled: What Is a Reverse Mortgage? Deductibility of Interest Payments on Reverse Mortgages Securitization of Reverse Mortgage Loans via REMIC Structures Practical Observations Regarding Investment Reverse Mortgage REMIC Securities Summary Notes

Low-cost deposits and increased balance sheet liquidity raise banks' supply of illiquid loans more than loans easily sold or securitized. We exploit the inability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase jumbo mortgages to identify an exogenous change in liquidity. The volume of jumbo mortgage originations relative to nonjumbo originations increases with bank holdings of liquid assets and decreases with bank deposit costs. This result suggests that the increasing depth of the mortgage secondary market fostered by securitization has reduced the effect of lender's financial condition on credit supply.

After Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, cross-border bank lending contracted sharply. To explain the severity and variation in this contraction, we analyze detailed data on cross-border syndicated lending by 75 banks to 59 countries. We find that banks which had to write down sub-prime assets, refinance large amounts of long-term debt, and which experienced sharp declines in their market-to-book ratio, transmitted these shocks across borders by curtailing their lending abroad. While shocked banks differentiated between countries in much the same way as less constrained banks, they restricted their lending more to small borrowers.

We present a model of sovereign debt in which, contrary to conventional wisdom, government defaults are costly because they destroy the balance sheets of domestic banks. In our model, better financial institutions allow banks to be more leveraged, thereby making them more vulnerable to sovereign defaults. Our predictions: government defaults should lead to declines in private credit, and these declines should be larger in countries where financial institutions are more developed and banks hold more government bonds. In these same countries, government defaults should be less likely. Using a large panel of countries, we find evidence consistent with these predictions.

The financial market turmoil in 2007 and 2008 has led to the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression and threatens to have large repercussions on the real economy. The bursting of the housing bubble forced banks to write down several hundred billion dollars in bad loans caused by mortgage delinquencies. At the same time, the stock market capitalization of the major banks declined by more than twice as much. While the overall mortgage losses are large on an absolute scale, they are still relatively modest compared to the $8 trillion of U.S. stock market wealth lost between October 2007, when the stock market reached an all-time high, and October 2008. This paper attempts to explain the economic mechanisms that caused losses in the mortgage market to amplify into such large dislocations and turmoil in the financial markets, and describes common economic threads that explain the plethora of market declines, liquidity dry-ups, defaults, and bailouts that occurred after the crisis broke in summer 2007.

This report brings together the results of an eight-part series of presentations by leading experts in issues directly related to microfinance institutional sustainability. It is intended for microfinance institution (MFI) board members, managers, and staff members as well as for government regulators, supervisors, and donor staff members. The first four chapters include topics in risk management: (1) risk management systems, (2) good governance, (3) interest rates, and (4) micro-insurance. The last four chapters include four topics in new product development and efficient delivery methodologies: (5) housing microfinance, (6) micro-leasing, (7) disaster preparedness products and systems, and (8) new technologies. The objectives of the series were as follows: i) to strengthen MFIs by disseminating innovative approaches in risk management, cost control, governance, and new technologies; ii) to promote a South-South exchange of experiences and lessons learned; iii) to promote greater ties among the MFIs in the region and between MFIs and government supervisors and regulators; and iv) to highlight the Bank's ability to mobilize international technical expertise in microfinance.