DHAKA, 15 October 2006 — Bangladesh celebrated its very first Nobel Prize yesterday after microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus became the country’s peace laureate and tributes poured in from around the world.

Hundreds of people again gathered at his home on the outskirts of Dhaka yesterday eager to congratulate the Nobel Peace Prize winner credited with helping millions out of poverty.

Yunus, whose Grameen Bank specializes in giving small loans to the landless, rural people to help them become self-employed, told journalists and wellwishers he was honored to have won for Bangladesh and pledged to continue his work for the country’s poor.

“I think poverty eradication is very much possible. You change the environment and we will lift thousands and millions of people out of poverty.

“They don’t need any grant to change their life. People have this power in them. You remove the lid of the hidden power and poor people will automatically change their lives.”

“I think it’s quite possible to eradicate poverty from this world. I think we can halve the poverty level in Bangladesh by 2015. And in the next 15 years we can rid this land of it,” he said.

Many Grameen Bank borrowers also gathered at his residence to show their support.

“It’s the proudest moment for a Bangladeshi,” said wellwisher Ansar Ahmed, whose mother took a loan from Grameen Bank that transformed the family’s fortunes.

“I am delighted that he won the prize because what he has done for me and for thousands of families like us is simply wonderful. I am here to say thanks to him for his work for us,” he added.

Across Bangladesh, people staged marches and rallies to celebrate the country’s first Nobel prize. In the village of Hathazari in southeastern Chittagong district, where Yunus first introduced his microcredit concept, around 500 people took to the streets, according to the ATN Bangla television network.

At Singair in the central Manikganj district, more than 30,000 people beat drums and chanted “light the lamp of Yunus at every home” as they marched through the town, the channel said.

Earlier, President Iajuddin Ahmed and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia led the nation in paying tributes to Yunus.

“The entire nation is proud of the first Nobel Prize for any Bangladeshi citizen. Dr. Yunus’ microcredit program has benefited millions of poor,” said Khaleda.

Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan praised Yunus for his “selfless service... rendered to the poorest of the poor, bringing hope to the hopeless.” He added, “He has made Bangladesh proud and I, as a childhood friend, feel especially elated to share this glorious (sense of) pride with him.” The Bangladeshi media also paid tribute to the economist, hailing him as the country’s greatest social reformer.

“Congratulations Bangladesh,” said the Bengali daily Jai Jai Din in a front-page editorial. “At last Bangladesh has a world-class role model.”

United Nations chief Kofi Annan praised Yunus and Grameen Bank, saying that microfinance had “proved its value as a way for low-income families to break the vicious circle of poverty.”

Yunus, an economics professor, began fighting poverty during a devastating famine in Bangladesh, setting up Grameen Bank in 1976 as a pilot project to provide credit for people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

The concept has since been copied in more than 40 countries.