Kabul, Afghanistan, October 7, 2008—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today signed an agreement with the First MicroFinanceBank, Afghanistan (FMFB) to strengthen the bank’s capacity to introduce a product line that will address the housing needs of low- and middle-income Afghans.
Most microfinance institutions and banks in Afghanistan do not offer housing loans, and traditional housing finance is limited because the existing legal and regulatory infrastructure does not support mortgage lending. To bridge this gap, IFC and FMFB will join forces to ensure that low- and middle-income families and individuals have access to affordable housing loans. IFC plans to recruit an advisor to work closely with FMFB to develop sound operational policies and guidelines necessary for building a sustainable housing portfolio.
Muslim-ul-Haq, CEO of FMFB, said, “We are confident that with IFC’s technical assistance, we can offer products that help meet the housing needs of the majority of Afghans who currently do not have access to housing finance.”
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First Microfinance Bank (FMFB) is part of the Aga Khan Agency of Microfinance (AKAM), a not-for-profit, non-denominational, international development agency.
Complete at the source: World Bank
IFC.org
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Microfinance refers to the provision of financial services to poor or low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed.[1] The term also refers to the practice of sustainably delivering those services.
More broadly, it refers to a movement that envisions “a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers.”[2]
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