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WDI recently completed a six-week study to design policies, instruments, and institutions to promote household and corporate savings in West Bank and Gaza. The full report, as well as the interim report, is now available online.

 

The study identified the means through which the amount of funds available for loans from individual and corporate savings is sufficient to enable the banking system to provide financing for the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the area.

 

This initiative is a part of the larger Small and Microenterprise Assistance for Recovery and Transition (SMART) program. SMART is a two-year, USAID-financed initiative that aims to help micro and small enterprises find sources of funding, including microfinance providers in the West Bank and Gaza that need to respond effectively to the current political and economic difficulties and prepare for sustainability and expansion in the future.

 

Expected program outcomes include financing new loan products, studying the feasibility of savings, assisting institutions’ transformation activities, researching the use of collateral, introducing a performance monitoring tool, facilitating limited use of loan guarantees and evaluation of mechanisms such as insurance for agricultural production.

 

The two reports on the study can be found on the microLINKS website, a dynamic knowledge-sharing site designed to improve the impact of USAID-funded microenterprise programs and activities. Created through USAID’s Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project, microLINKS allows the Microenterprise Development office to share cutting-edge research with microenterprise development and financial services practitioners, USAID Mission staff, and other interested individuals and organizations while also serving as a meeting place through which visitors can share their own experiences and knowledge.

 

Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the interim report.