For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 9, 2004
Eradicating Poverty Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet: Applying the Power of Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of Poverty
Presidential Action
President Bush secured G-8 Leaders' agreement on an innovative action plan to apply the power of entrepreneurship and the private sector to the challenge of poverty alleviation.
Private Sector-Led Development: President Bush's development policies, such as the Millennium Challenge Account initiative,
emphasize promoting economic freedom and entrepreneurship as key
drivers of job creation and poverty reduction. A recent U.N. report,
"Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor,"
highlights the private sector's role as "the source of growth, jobs,
and opportunities for the poor."
G-8 Action: President Bush led the G-8 today in committing to a U.S.-driven action plan on "Applying the Power of Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of Poverty." Specifically, the G-8 agreed to:
- Facilitate and lower the cost of remittances, the money sent by immigrants abroad to their families and friends back home.
- Global remittance flows total nearly $100 billion annually, and are significantly larger - and growing faster than - official development assistance.
- G-8 countries agreed to launch pilot projects with a view
to cutting transaction costs - which can be as high as 10-15% - by half.
For example, under the U.S. - Mexico Partnership for Prosperity,
the U.S. reduced remittance costs by 56%, putting more money in the
hands of recipient families.
- Expand access to microfinance to help new entrepreneurs establish or grow their businesses and pull themselves out of poverty. The G-8 will pilot this initiative in the Broader Middle East region, where the G-8 has pledged to:
- Help over two million entrepreneurs help themselves out of poverty through microfinance loans over 5 years;
- Establish a Microfinance Best Practices Training Center in
Jordan;
- Launch the first microfinance pilot project in Yemen.
The U.S. will expand its already robust microfinance program, which
is currently active in 58 countries, reaching over 5 million clients
worldwide with total combined loans of more than $2.5 billion. For
example, the U.S. is working in Egypt with nine partner institutions to
develop lending programs that have extended more than 1.3 million loans
from 1990-2003, creating more than 300,000 jobs. Forty percent of
borrowers are women.
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