Rural Financial Services : Implementing the Bank's Strategy to Reach the Rural Poor

This paper discusses rural finance aspects of the World Bank's rural development strategy, "Reaching the Rural Poor" (see report no. 26763) by giving an overview of recent implementation experience, discussing current issues, and highlighting priorities for the future. The primary objective is to articulate how the Bank views current best practices in rural finance and attempts to incorporate them into its operations, as a common frame of reference for policymakers in client countries, Bank staff, and other donor agencies. In the process, it provides some operational guidance on the types of instruments suited to different circumstances, although it is not intended as a toolkit for project design. Four sections make up this report. Section II explores the characteristics of rural financial markets and constraints to their development, analyzes why the traditional paradigm of directed agricultural credit was replaced by a financial systems approach, and explains how this new paradigm is incorporated into institutional policies. Section III reviews recent implementation experience of Bank RMF operations and emerging issues. Section IV develops approaches for strengthening implementation of the Bank's strategy for rural financial market development at the levels of macro policies, institutions, communities and clients, and concludes with recommendations for improved consultation, both internal and external.