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Microfinance: Philippines
For readers out there who never thought their post office could double as a bank... think again. Japan Post is said to be the largest holder of personal savings accounts in the world, with 224 trillion yen ($2.1 trillion) in household savings assets. The holding account for 25% of total household savings in Japan. Pretty substantial no?The Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB) has just announced it plans to launch a new microfinance
facility for drivers and conductors belonging to transport cooperatives or associations accredited/ registered with the Philippines Office of Transportation Cooperatives.
"Under the microfinance facility, a transport cooperative or association can avail of an interest-free and no-collateral capital seed fund amounting to P5,000 per beneficiary. A group of 30 beneficiaries can borrow maximum of P150,000 for a one-year term."
Click here to read more on this development from Business World Online
Bolivia's microfinance sector remains in a good position to cope with the economic slowdown and is set for slower but solid growth this year, the executive secretary of Bolivia's microfinance institutions' association Asofin, Fernando Prado, told BNamericas."Fortunately, we haven't felt the [financial] crisis in the microfinance sector in Bolivia," said Prado, speaking on behalf of the eight microfinance institutions associated with Asofin, which control 90% of the total loans held by the country's specialized microlenders.
In 2008, Asofin members expanded their loans 42%, three times the rate reported by banks, which grew lending by 14%.While banks have seen demand for their products decline, demand for microcredit remains very high, Prado said.Click here to access this article from BNAmericas
OVER 80 PERCENT OF INVESTORS HAVE NOT REDUCED THEIR MICROFINANCE INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO DUE TO THE GLOBAL RECESSION
Microfinance Insights Survey Reveals Views of 160 Microfinance Stakeholders; Latest issue features KIVA, Citi India, Kashf-Pakistan, Unitus, Grameen, Koota
MUMBAI, India, March 13, 2009 - As the recession spreads to developing countries around the world, and the effects of the crisis set in, Microfinance Insights explores how the microfinance sector is coping with the global recession. In the March/April 2009 issue, Global Crisis & Microfinance, sector stakeholders, from institutional investors to microfinance institutions and their clients, reveal how they have been affected by the liquidity crisis and speculate on when it will end.
Microfinance clients, many of whom are below the poverty line, have felt the squeeze with rising food and energy prices, decreases in remittances and less availability of loans. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs), particularly those not permitted to mobilize deposits, have struggled to maintain the liquidity to continue loan cycles without interruption. As the situation worsens, equity investors continue to show interest in investing in large microfinance institutions, confident that many established MFIs will weather the crisis.
Click here to read more about this from einnews
