Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit, has announced that “Asociacion Benefica Prisma”, a Peru-based microfinance institution (MFI), has become the first fully certified user of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) [1].
Category: Trends/Challenges
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Releases Benchmarking Reports on West Africa and Arab Region
Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), a nonprofit, US-based data provider, recently released its “2010 WAEMU – Microfinance Analysis & Benchmarking Report “ and “2010 Arab Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report”.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Analyzes Profitability of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
Data collected by Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the US-based nonprofit data provider, contradicts the idea that the commercialization of microfinance is increasing the vulnerability of low-income households [1] [2].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): No More Time For Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to Recapitalize
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently announced that it will not allow 121 microfinance banks (MFBs) that received provisional operating licenses in October 2010 more time to recapitalize. CBN gave the 121 MFBs, the surviving portion of 224 MFBs that had their operating licenses revoked in October 2010, a deadline of January 31 to increase their minimum capital from NGN 10 million (USD 64,200) to NGN 20 million (USD 131,000), shutdown branches engaging in illegal activities and embrace “good” corporate governance.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Fourth Annual Convergences 2015 – Working Towards the Millennium Development Goals, Paris, France, May 3-5, 2011
Event Name: Fourth Annual Convergences 2015 – Working Towards the Millennium Development Goals
Event Date: May 3 – May 5, 2011
Event Location: City Hall, Paris, France
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ugandan Ministry of Finance Reports that 71 Percent of Population Saves, Including 4 Percent Through Microfinance Institutions
The Commissioner for Microfinance within the Ministry of Finance, Mr Moses Kaggwa, recently presented a paper indicating that at least 71 percent of Ugandans aged 16 and above are engaged in some form of saving.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nextmf.org Relaunched as Savings-Revolution.org Will Cover Community-Managed, Savings-Led Microfinance
The website Savings-Revolution.org, which is a redesign of the website www.nextmf.org, focused on community-managed, savings-led microfinance. The site is intended to serve as a one-stop resource for alternatives to traditional microfinance [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance Launches Micro-Mortgage Product in Maharashtra, India
Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance Limited, an Indian housing finance institution, has launched a housing microfinance product in the central-Indian state of Maharashtra. Swarna Pragati plans to disburse INR 30 million (USD 652,000) in loans to 100 self-help groups (SHGs) in an effort to reach 500 beneficiaries, particularly poor women in underserved rural areas [1]. Swarna Pragati aims to use existing networks of SHGs and other local organizations to identify clients and service the loans [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: People’s Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC) of the Philippines Targets 3.2m Microfinance Clients, Partnerships With 170 Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Issuance of $47m in New Loans By Year-End 2011
People’s Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC), a government entity in the Philippines that provides resources to retail microfinance institutions (MFIs), reportedly announced at a recent microfinance conference in Cebu that it hopes to reach 3.2 million active microfinance clients, have partnerships with 170 MFIs and issue PHP 2.05 billion (USD 47.1 million) in new loans by the end of the year. Currently, PCFC partners with 157 MFIs serving 2.95 million clients and has an outstanding loan portfolio of PHP 3.56 billion (USD 81.8 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Tanzania Announces Microfinance Fund for Affordable Housing
In its effort to address a housing shortage in the country, the government of Tanzania recently announced a plan to launch a housing microfinance fund to provide affordable housing options to low-income individuals. The fund, the size of which has not been disclosed, aims to reduce the number of slums and address the shortage of housing capacity in the Tanzanian cities of Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Updates Review of Yunus’s Classification of Interest Rates, Argues Against Interest Rate Caps
The US-based nonprofit data provider Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) recently published an updated review of the methodology for categorizing microcredit interest rates proposed by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus in his book “Creating a World Without Poverty”. The review, which uses 2009 data from approximately 1,020 microfinance institutions (MFIs) covering approximately 88 million borrowers, updates the findings of the previous review presented by MIX that uses 2008 data.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Federal Microfinance Bill May Replace Existing State Microfinance Legislation in India
The Ministry of Finance in India recently unveiled its plan to pass a new microfinance bill to regulate the microfinance sector. The ordinance passed by the government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in October 2010, in response to a series of farmer suicides, severely curtailed lending activity in the region. The bill, which is reportedly being drafted along the lines of the recommendations made by the Reserve Bank of India’s Malegam Committee which was formed in the wake of the unrest in Andhra Pradesh, is likely to render state legislation on microfinance null and void.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Philippines Looks to Curtail Direct Microfinance Lending by Government Agencies
In an effort to counter political patronage, the administration of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has indicated its intention to alter current microfinance policies, which confer power to government agencies to lend directly to poor people.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: For-profit Microfinance Institution (MFI) BASIX Group Negotiating $166m Loan from Consortium of Banks Led by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
BASIX Group, a for-profit microfinance institution (MFI) based in India, is currently involved in negotiations with a consortium of banks led by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), an Indian government-owned bank providing credit to medium and large-scale MFIs, to receive a INR 7.5 billion (USD 166 million) loan largely intended to restructure the existing debt of BASIX.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Associations Social Performance Working Group of Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) Authors “Donor Strategies for Advancing Social Performance through Microfinance Associations”
The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network, recently published a technical note authored by SPTF’s Social Performance Working Group for Associations that highlights the proceedings of their meeting during the Social Performance Task Force Annual Meeting in June 2010.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Centre for Micro Finance of Institute for Financial and Management Research (IFMR) and College for Agricultural Banking of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Publish Joint Study on Remittance Channels
The Centre for Micro Finance at the Institute for Financial and Management Research (IFMR), a think-tank established in India, and the Reserve Bank of India’s College for Agricultural Banking, a training college for the central bank of India, recently published a report on the trends in domestic money transfers by Indian migrant workers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s Andhra Pradesh State to Tighten Local Microfinance Institutions (Regulation of Moneylending) Act
The government of the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh reportedly is set to alter the Andhra Pradesh Microfinance Institutions (Regulation of Moneylending) Act, which was enacted December 2010 in response to complaints of high interest rates and coercive loan recovery, by replacing the term “self-help group (SHG) women” with “below poverty line (BPL) households” [1] [2]. According to unspecified sources at the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office, the purpose of the replacement is “to ensure that MFIs adhere to the existing stringent rules” by “bringing all kinds of MFI loan products, existing and future, under the purview of the Act [1].”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Reports Village Phone Program Has Provided Credit to 6,000 Women, Trained 10,000 in Madagascar, Malawi and Nigeria
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced that the Village Phone Program, an initiative IFC launched in 2006 that aims to connect African telecommunications operators with rural entrepreneurs, has helped provide credit to approximately 6,000 women entrepreneurs and trained approximately 10,000 women to set up phone service businesses in Madagascar, Malawi and Nigeria.