Microfinance: the state of things, compliments of Forbes
This 3,800+ word microfinance story focuses primarily on Mongolia, not a country this blog is primarily concerned with but a place where microfinance is experiencing what the piece calls ‘growing pains.’
The writer mentions early NGO microfinance initiatives such as the Golden Fund for Development, a UN program started in 1998, and offers up some relevant stats on microfinance for Eastern Europe and Central Asia: the total number of borrowers served has grown from 1.5 million in 2000 to 5.1 million in 2006, with the total loan portfolio of all MFIs reaching $12.5 billion.
The 11th annual Microfinance Centre Conference will be held in Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia, May 20-30, and is expected to address competition and attempt to make some sense of the complicated landscape now inhabited by private investors who came on the scene as the market expanded.