Agricultural development banks (AgDBs), which are not viable, should either be closed, or transformed into self-reliant, sustainable financial intermediaries. Experience shows that reform is possible. Among the prominent cases are Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank for Agriculture and...

Indonesia is a country with a deregulated policy environment in which microfinance institutions (MFIs) abound. Between 1970 and 1993 poverty has been drastically reduced from 60% to 14%. Three factors have been instrumental: explicit government policies, sustained economic growth and, since...

The interventionist rationale of economic policy-making in Indonesia was already laid down in the 1945 constitution, but only the abundant oil revenues during the oil boom period between 1973 and 1982 enabled the government to realize the envisaged state-led model of development. In order to...

Selbsthilfe und Armutsbekämpfung werden heute als selbstverständliche Elemente von Entwicklung und Entwicklungspolitik gesehen. Allerdings ist es wichtig, sich über die inhaltliche Bedeutung dieser Begriffe zu verständigen.

Forays into Islamic microfinance have been few and scattered and of limited outreach. Some have been mandated by the state, but lack popular demand, as in Iran; other have emerged in response to popular demand, but lack regulatory support by the state, as in Syria. This has provided the...