Wow!: Loans keep women afloat as they plant fast-vanishing mangroves in Kenya
DOMINIC KIRUI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from Pate Island off Kenya’s east coast…
Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore says churches may apply for US government loans
RNS Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top ethicist, said he saw no problem with churches applying for government loans as part of the coronavirus relief legislation enacted last month. That legislation provides $US350 billion for the Small Business Administration to extend loans to small businesses – and in a government reversal, churches and other […]
Major Thai coffee brand vows to repay 200 debt-ridden farmers
Chiang Rai, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation A major Thai coffee brand has vowed to repay about 200 farmers who were forced to take out loans while waiting nearly three years for payment, leaving them with spiralling debts. Doi Chaang Coffee – which has more than 50 franchises in South-East Asia – said it would pay about […]
Australia offers drought ravaged farmers up to $A1 billion in cheap loans
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia will offer farmers hurt by drought up to $A1 billion in cheap loans, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday, as the government seeks to curb rising discontent from rural voters. Farmers across Australia’s east coast have been battling drought conditions for more than three years, wilting agricultural production and leaving some […]
Ease poor people’s access to loans to prevent slavery, say experts
Melbourne, AustraliaThomson Reuters Foundation Improving poor people’s access to loans would make them less vulnerable to trafficking and slavery, a global expert said on Friday, as a new international commission met in Sydney. The commission was set up last year to enlist the international financial sector in the fight to end modern slavery, one of […]
Credit where it’s due: UK mulls law to make poverty less expensive
Thomson Reuters Foundation Britain is considering legal changes that would help low income earners – who pay interest rates of up to 1,500 percent for emergency loans, washing machines and mobile phone tariffs – to borrow at fairer rates. Campaigners hope to tackle the “poverty premium”, where poor households pay hundreds of pounds more each […]