Comunicado - PM - APENAS EM INGLÊS

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF TIMOR-LESTE
OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Dili, November 18 2006

By the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste Dr José Ramos-Horta


Here’s a way to borrow money to start that small business

Do you have some friends who want to join you in setting up a fishing business? Or perhaps there is a block of land that could be farmed to grow peanuts, or coffee, or rice or vegetables for the market?

Maybe you are a mother who just needs some money to be able to buy produce to re-sell it at a profit at the market?

There is an exciting program that can help. It is called “microfinance” and involves lending small amounts of money to individuals or community groups so they can establish a small business. Each member of the group guarantees to help repay the loan.

My good friend Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh started this idea going with the Grameen Bank and it is now popular right around the world. It has been so successful that Mr Yunus and his bank were this year jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

The Institute of Micro Finance Timor-Leste (IMFTL) started operating in 2002 and was established to address the financial needs of the rural poor, particularly women. The institute supports community-based opportunities for income generation and is particularly aimed at generating sustainable employment.

Among the products that it makes available are group loans for poor women; market vendor loans; agricultural loans for individuals and groups (coffee and rice); small business loans and payroll loans.

I am so convinced that microfinance can help people work their way out of extreme poverty that I have actually used some of my own money in Dili to encourage our poor to start businesses. There are few things more rewarding than seeing these very poor people succeed.

IMFTL has its head office in Dili with full branches in Gleno, Maliana and Aileu. New offices are planned for Baucau and Oecussi in the near future. The institute hopes that in the near future there will be full branches in all 13 districts. At the present time more than 3600 borrowers have loans from IMFTL with a total value of nearly $1.5 million.

The microfinance program will concentrate on three key product groups: group loans to poor women; agricultural loans to farmers; and small business loans.

During the next three years IMFTL has plans to make these lending services, as well as new savings services, available throughout Timor-Leste. Every citizen should have the opportunity to utilize the lending and savings services they deserve.

Within two years IMFTL aims to employ 120 new workers (mostly young graduates) to service a planned 20,000 borrowers and 70,000 depositors.

Microfinance will not solve all of our problems but it might be the answer to your prayers and help you earn enough money to send your children to school. I urge you to consider it carefully.

IMFTL can be contacted on phone (+670) 3339186, 3339187 3339188 or visit one of the branches.

.