To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department has provided for microfinance initiatives in (a) Eastern and Southern Africa, (b) West and Central Africa, (c) North Africa and the Middle East, (d) South Asia, (e) Central Asia, (f) East Asia and the Pacific, (g) the Caribbean, (h) Europe and (i) Latin America in the latest period for which figures are available.

The Department for International Development (DFID) does not have any active microfinance programmes in east Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe or Latin America. The requested information for the other regions cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost. Examples of financial sector development programmes that incorporate DFID's work on microfinance in these regions include:

Eastern and Southern Africa: The FinMark Trust in Southern Africa and the Financial Sector Deepening Trusts in Kenya and Tanzania which aim to promote access to finance for poor people through identifying and resolving constraints on financial market development.

West and Central Africa: The Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFinA) programme funded jointly with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Nigeria is supporting the development of a new financial inclusion strategy, the innovation of new financial products, capacity building for financial institutions and research on the use of financial services among poor households.

North Africa and the Middle East: DFID is supporting a $150 million multi- donor regional programme implemented by the International Finance Corporation in 19 countries and territories in north Africa and the middle east, which includes microfinance initiatives through the Access to Finance component.

South Asia: DFID's £50 million Financial Inclusion Programme, implemented through the State Bank of Pakistan (SPB), aims to increase the sustainability of the financial sector through capacity building, product development and regulatory reform.