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MAL Malaysia MBL market-based loan Membership Membership in ADB is open to members and associate members of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and to other regional countries and nonregional developed countries that are members of the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies. As of 26 January 2005, ADB has 63 members: 45 from the region and 18 from outside the region.
Microfinance ADB recognizes microfinance as a powerful tool to promote economic growth, reduce poverty, support human development, and improve the status of women. The diverse needs of poor households and microenterprises and the lessons from past experience strongly suggest that future ADB assistance for microfinance should support the development of a broad range of financial services. Reflecting the growing demand from its developing member countries, ADB’s microfinance operations are anticipated to expand significantly over the medium term.
ADB’s assistance for microfinance is based on a number of premises. The underlying premise is that there is a vast unmet demand for microfinance services from poor households and microenterprises, and that providing microfinance services is an effective and proven way of reaching the poor, particularly women. Microfinance services, if provided on a sustainable basis, can significantly reduce poverty and empower women. However, reaching poor households and microenterprises with sustainable financial services is a difficult and time-consuming task that requires a long-term, multipronged strategy. Such a strategy needs to cover a wide array of issues, including enabling policy environments, supervisory and regulatory frameworks, the promotion of innovative financial technologies, and measures for social intermediation.
(See also Microfinance Development Strategy; and Poverty Reduction) Microfinance Development Strategy A Microfinance Development Strategy (MDS) was approved by the Board of Directors in June 2000. The purpose of the MDS is to support the development of sustainable microfinance systems that can provide quality institutional financial services to a majority of poor and low-income households and their microenterprises. The MDS was prepared through an extensive consultative process involving microfinance industry stakeholders in developing member countries, including nongovernment organizations. The MDS focuses on policy environment, financial infrastructure, institutional development, pro-poor innovations, and social development. To achieve the objectives of the strategy effectively and efficiently, ADB will integrate microfinance into its operations, make better use of current modalities of assistance, enhance the involvement of its private sector operations in microfinance, build its internal capacity for microfinance activities, coordinate with other agencies involved in microfinance, and monitor the progress of microfinance activities systematically. MLD Maldives MON Mongolia Mongolia Resident Mission (See
Departments and Offices.)
MTSF Medium-Term Strategic Framework MYA Myanmar
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