France's Senate is considering the country's 2021 Finance Bill, following approval in late November by the National Assembly.

The Irish Government has published its 2019 Finance Bill, which introduces changes to a number of SME-targeted tax incentives and implements a range of measures announced in this month's Budget.

The draft bill comes at a time when there are differing opinions on the cost efficacy of the MFO model for reaching credit to the poor. Moreover, the bill itself contains some perplexing ideas - such as the choice of NABARD, itself an MFO, as a regulator of others such organisations. Kaushiki Sanyal presents a legislative brief.