Microfinance firms lobby for changes in credit rules.

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in East Asia and the Pacific have vowed to lobby for changes in existing laws to enhance credit to the poor.

This was the resolution arrived at by representatives of the institutions which participated in last week's regional forum in Manila sponsored by the World Bank. The five-day workshop, which was attended by micro-financing experts and practitioners all over the world, was aimed at addressing issues concerning MFIs.

Microfinance involves giving credit to the poor but hard-working small entrepreneurs who are denied access to bank funds.

For their part, delegates from the Philippines said they will …