To spur rural development, Mexico’s government and its Rural Financial Development Finance Institution (FND, Financiera Nacional de Desarrollo) approached the World Bank Group to help expand credit into the rural economy. FND works to strengthen local rural financial institutions to expand financial access to farmers and businesses and to encourage private investment in rural areas.

Over the past year, 101 rural financial institutions have registered to participate in the World Bank’s Expanding Rural Finance project, which has just completed its first year. They have disbursed US$92 million by extending 45,000 credit lines to 40,000 farmers and small rural businesses, with the average loan totaling US$2,000, according to the latest data from June 2017.