PUBLIC LAW 10&-309 —OCT. 17, 2000 114 STAT. 1085 SEC. 106. MICRO- AND SMALL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS. Section 108 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 215If) is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 108. MICRO- AND SMALL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS. "(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.— Congress finds and declares that— "(1) the development of micro- and small enterprises is a vital factor in the stable growth of developing countries and in the development and stability of a free, open, and equitable international economic system; and "(2) it is, therefore, in the best interests of the United States to assist the development of the enterprises of the poor in developing countries and to engage the United States private sector in that process. "(b) PROGRAM. —To carry out the policy set forth in subsection President, (a), the President is authorized to provide assistance to increase the availability of credit to micro- and small enterprises lacking full access to credit, including through— "(1) loans and guarantees to credit institutions for the purpose of expanding the availability of credit to micro- and small enterprises; "(2) training programs for lenders in order to enable them to better meet the credit needs of microentrepreneurs; and "(3) training programs for microentrepreneurs in order to enable them to make better use of credit and to better manage their enterprises. "(c) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA. —The Administrator of the agency primarily responsible for administering this part shall establish criteria for determining which credit institutions described in subsection (b)(1) are eligible to carry out activities, with respect to micro- and small enterprises, assisted under this section. Such criteria may include the following: "(1) The extent to which the recipients of credit from the entity do not have access to the local formal financial sector. "(2) The extent to which the recipients of credit from the entity are among the poorest people in the country. "(3) The extent to which the entity is oriented toward working directly with poor women. "(4) The extent to which the entity recovers its cost of lending. "(5) The extent to which the entity implements a plan to become financially sustainable. "(d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.— Assistance provided under this section may only be used to support micro- and small enterprise programs and may not be used to support programs not directly related to the purposes described in subsection (b). "(e) PROCUREMENT PROVISION.— Assistance may be provided under this section without regard to section 604(a). "(f) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. — "(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts authorized to be available to carry out section 131, there are authorized to be available $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 and 2002 to carry out this section. "(2) COVERAGE OF SUBSIDY COSTS.—Amounts authorized to be available under paragraph (1) shall be made available to cover the subsidy cost, as defined in section 502(5) of the
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