NEWS WIRE: Pakistan: Political Intervention Creates Crisis for Microfinance Institutions in Pakistan

Source: Business Recorder

Original article available here. 

LAHORE, PAKISTAN, April 3 – The Grameen Foundation and Women’s World Banking (WWB) have expressed grave concern over the growing crisis in the Punjab region of Pakistan, following inappropriate political intervention in the region’s microfinance sector. They state that the crisis has damaged the reputation of the microfinance sector in Pakistan and could lead to a major crisis with national as well as international implications.

Alex Counts, President of Grameen Foundation and Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of WWB, have written a letter to Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif urging him to issue a public statement on the importance of the microfinance sector. They also urged him to take swift action in support of the vital sector in Pakistan and asked him to ensure the security of Kashf staff as they interact with clients, and also reschedule Kashf’s existing loan to the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF).

Their letter argues that the current crisis to the microfinance sector affects not only Kashf Foundation and the 300,000 clients it serves but, if left unchallenged, will have repercussions for all the poor in Pakistan.

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