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Bringing Finance to Pakistan's Poor : Access to Finance for Small Enterprises and the UnderservedAccess to financing is now widely acknowledged as a path to meaningful economic inclusion and reduction in poverty. Policy efforts to increase access to finance in Pakistan have taken time to bear fruit, but now access is indeed expanding quickly in certain financial sectors (microfinance, remittances), albeit from a very low base. Nevertheless, policy measures cannot single-handedly increase financial access; financial institutions' willingness to expand access in Pakistan has been stinted by slow technologic advances, weak legal foundations, and unsuitable financial processes and products. Poor socioeconomic conditions, gender bias, and low levels of basic education and financial literacy remain barriers, but perhaps the single strongest driver of low demand for financial access has been income. The primary purpose of this study is to measure and describe the state of financial service provision to underserved segments of the market in Pakistan, particularly those with low incomes and small enterprises, and to identify ways to improve investment and create inclusive markets that meet the needs of underserved people and enterprises.
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Inequality in Latin America : Breaking with History?With the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean has been one of the regions of the world with the greatest inequality. This report explores why the region suffers from such persistent inequality, identifies how it hampers development, and suggests ways to achieve greater equity in the distribution of wealth, incomes and opportunities. The study draws on data from 20 countries based on household surveys covering 3.6 million people, and reviews extensive economic, sociological and political science studies on inequality in Latin America. To address the deep historical roots of inequality in Latin America, and the powerful contemporary economic, political and social mechanisms that sustain it, Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean outlines four broad areas for action by governments and civil society groups to break this destructive pattern: 1) Build more open political and social institutions, that allow the poor and historically subordinate groups to gain a greater share of agency, voice and power in society. 2) Ensure that economic institutions and policies seek greater equity, through sound macroeconomic management and equitable, efficient crisis resolution institutions, that avoid the large regressive redistributions that occur during crises, and that allow for saving in good times to enhance access by the poor to social safety nets in bad times. 3) Increase access by the poor to high-quality public services, especially education, health, water and electricity, as well as access to farmland and the rural services. Protect and enforce the property rights of the urban poor. 4) Reform income transfer programs so that they reach the poorest families.
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HondurasHonduras is Central America’s
 second-largest country with a population of more than 8
 million and a land area of about 112,000 square kilometers.
 The 20th century witnessed a profound economic
 transformation and modernization in Honduras. Honduras’
 persistent poverty is the result of long-term low per capita
 growth and high inequality, perpetuated by the country’s
 high vulnerability to shocks. First, over the past 40 years
 the country has experienced modest growth rates marked by
 considerable volatility. Second, high levels of inequality
 have weakened the ability for growth to reduce poverty by
 limiting the extent to which a large segment of the
 population is able to fully access physical and human
 capital. Third, a large share of the population is
 vulnerable and exposed to regular shocks - both large and
 small which has exacerbated poverty by destroying or slowing
 asset accumulation. This systematic country diagnostic (SCD)
 explores the drivers of these development outcomes in
 Honduras, and reflects on the policy priorities that should
 underlie a development strategy focused on eradicating
 poverty and boosting shared prosperity. After identifying a
 number of critical factors affecting the country’s
 development outcomes, the SCD concludes that there is a need
 for a comprehensive agenda that tackles simultaneously the
 problems that have kept the country in a low development
 equilibrium for many decades, as well as emerging challenges
 that have the potential not only to prevent progress but
 also worsen the current situation. The SCD also argues that
 the policy agenda needs to be ambitious and move away from
 marginal interventions in order to move Honduras from a
 situation where its economic potentials are just potentials
 to another where they become actuals.