Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday urged governments to provide greater loan access for the poor instead of state welfare programmes that do little to solve their predicament.

"All over the world there are so many welfare programmes. But if one monitors these welfare programmes properly, then they will see it never really helps the poor," said Yunus, known as Bangladesh's "banker to the poor."

"Instead, these programmes actually keep them in the position they are today and just let them barely survive," said Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank that provides micro-lending to the poor.

He said about two-thirds of the world's population were not eligible for any kind of loans and are highly dependent on state welfare.

"I strongly believe that welfare programmes should only be for short terms and help the poor to come out of their poverty and not to keep them there forever," Yunus said.

Instead the private sector and non-government organizations must collaborate to "help communities develop the means to get out of the circle."

"More than one billion people are condemned to live on less than one dollar per day. Such a crisis demands tangible solutions, put into practice on a wide scale. It requires leadership from civil society and governments," he stressed.

"Microfinance is one of the most powerful solutions to poverty in existence today, and my hopes are to see it implemented globally with everybody's help," he said.

Financial institutions should instead give financial help to those who need them without any collateral, he said.

The 67-year-old economist won the 2006 Nobel peace prize for helping millions escape poverty through micro-credit financing projects, which enable people without collateral or steady income to get small loans.