Dhaka, July 04: The World Bank on Wednesday said it had approved a loan of five million dollars for a pilot project to bring micro-credit to Bangladesh's "poorest of the poor." The project -- offering "financial services for the poorest" -- will help determine if micro-credit can effectively help the poor increase their income and quality of life and whether programs aimed at this group can be sustainable, a World Bank statement said.

Typically excluded from traditional micro-credit programs, the poorest of the poor are defined in this case as those who belong to the bottom 10 per cent of the population and include landless, assetless or unemployed poor, elderly, disabled, beggars, and women-headed poor households, it said.

The fund will be administered by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, a local group which helps the rural poor find employment, and will target 60,000 of the poorest new borrowers. Bureau Report