This study builds on a survey sent to 23 Bank Superintendencies and Central Banks in the Latin America and the Caribbean during late spring/summer of 1997. The survey contained number of issues related to financial regulation and supervision that could potentially pose obstacles to financial...

The creation of new microfinance institutions (greenfielding) is a key International Finance Corporation (IFC) intervention to increase access to finance in countries where there are few institutions serving micro and small businesses. IFC uses this approach extensively in Africa and in post...

Competing in the world economy does not automatically boost a nation's productivity and restructure its economy. Such progress requires mobilizing capital, employment, technology and knowledge. Opportunities beyond the business realm must be fully exploited to the benfit of society as a whole....

The objective of this paper is to provide a regional overview of financial regulations in Latin America and the Caribbean which have the potential of constituting important obstacles to microfinance. The study attempts to identify the regulations and restrictions which may be inappropriate or...

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for understanding and analyzing how business regulations affect small and microenterprises. In doing so, it also makes a case for why particular attention should be paid to the process of initial registration of businesses and why this is a promising...

This publication aims to help donors, creditors and investors evaluate the performance, condition and risk of individual microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, in hopes of strengthening the microfinance industry and building the microenterprise sector. It provides concrete...

El propósito de este documento es proponer una definición estándar para cada uno de los términos financieros seleccionados y plantear un método común de cálculo para determinados coeficientes financieros. Fue producido en colaboración entre el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) y...

This paper aims to reveal some basic trends in the financing of microfinance institutions, such as where the financing comes from, and how the distribution changes over time. The paper does not claim to be a comprehensive review of this topic, but it offers some new information and points to...