ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the evolution of microcredit in Colombia throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, a period in which microcredit was designed and supported as a development policy to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It discusses the microcredit in the country highlighting the self-serving character of its development where a few insiders have come to dominate a highly profitable corner of financial activity. The Plan Nacional para el Desarrollo de la Microempresa (PNDM) played a critical role in the consolidation of microcredit in the country. Thus, yet again, the mere operational goal of expanding the microcredit sector was identified as a positive development outcome in itself. Thus, the 2000s were characterized by the constant implementation of legal and regulatory changes aimed at promoting microcredit, but now understood as a commercial tool within the much wider concept of "financial inclusion". The PNDM played a critical role in the consolidation of microcredit in the country.
