22/11/2008 (Business Times, Malaysia), Singapore - The International Finance Corp (IFC), the World Bank’s investment arm, said it will help lenders in Indonesia to finance small-scale oil palm growers to encourage so-called sustainable practices and forestall climate change.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil.

“The challenge now is to bring local banks into the process because smallholders, who account for a large percentage of the palm oil supply, aren’t financed by the big guys,” Rachel Kyte, the IFC’s vice-president for business advisory service, said yesterday in an interview. —Bloomberg-