There is still at least one place in the world where “credit” is not a dirty word: Iraq. In dusty shops and on basic farms across the country, fledgling microfinance projects are helping to revive an economy crippled by the Saddam-era preference for the public sector, a decade of international sanctions followed by six years of violence.

“I have increased my earnings and improved my family’s quality of life,” says Hamza Abid Ali, a grape-grower from Balad who has quintupled his income since taking out a $2,400 (€2,200, £2,000) loan from the Al-Baydaa Centre, a US-backed microcredit scheme.