MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Papua New Guinea Sets Gender Equity, Social Inclusion Policy for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)

The government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), in partnership with the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), the government of Australia and the PNG-based Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI), recently released a gender equity and social inclusion policy for microfinance institutions in PNG. The policy is intended to narrow the gender gap in financial inclusion, especially for rural women. It is an outgrowth of the Global Policy Forum held in Fiji in 2016 by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, a Malaysia-based association of financial regulators and policymakers.

CEFI was founded by the Bank of Papua New Guinea and the PNG Department National Planning and Monitoring in 2013 to foster financial inclusion and financial literacy as well as reducing poverty in the country.

Established in 1966, ADB has 67 country members, of which 48 are in the Asia-Pacific region. Its mission is to support environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration through loans, technical assistance, grants, equity investments and guarantees. During 2016, ADB invested USD 17.5 billion in projects with total budgets of USD 31.7 billion.

By Sascha Strobl, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources:

ADB press release:
https://www.adb.org/news/partners-launch-gender-equity-and-social-inclusion-policy-microfinance-institutions-png

ADB home page:
https://www.adb.org

The Center for Excellence in Financial Inclusion:
http://www.thecefi.org

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