A story in the Wall Street Journal today challenges a claim made many microcredit advocates.

Before microcredit began, moneylenders would charge unfair interest rates to to the poor, rates so high that they were impossible to pay off.

Even though the economies of the developed world beginning to recover from the global recession, the G-20 however will still be in crisis mode.

Room for one more at the back?

Only if you can push your way into the throng of 100 or so workers on a journey home from work which makes commuting on Britain’s much-maligned transport network seem like luxury.

Shoehorned onto the back of a lorry, they are crossing the Sahara Desert in temperatures of up to 35c in the shade.

Angel Gerri

The global economic slowdown will hit the poorest nations hardest. Demand for their exports is falling.