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Statistics
and key facts about rural finance
- Over one billion people lack access to basic financial
services.
- Over the last five years the microfinance sector has grown at
an average rate of 25 to 30 per cent.
- 65 of the world's top MFIs had an average rate of return of about
2.5 per cent of total assets, comparing favourably with
returns in the commercial banking sector.
- Self-employment constitutes 50 to 70 per cent of the
labour force among the poorest populations in developing countries.
In fact, it is estimated that about 500 million people
run microbusinesses. Yet fewer than 10 million of these people,
or about 2.5 per cent, are able to obtain loans from banks
or traditional lending institutions.
- In India, self-help groups are the backbone of microfinance services.
In 2003, the Government of India announced that more than 2.5 million poor
families had gained access to credit and other financial services
through 150,000 self-help groups.
- The cost of establishing a rural finance network in a remote area
is likely to be 80 per cent higher than in a more accessible
region.
- The small amounts involved in microfinance do not appeal to commercial
banks, which avoid making small loans. It takes the same personnel
and resources to process a US$100 loan as it does to process
a US$2,000 loan, cutting down on bank profit.
- Microfinance institutions charge relatively high rates of interest
to cover the cost of loans, but these rates are far below what poor
people routinely pay to village moneylenders.
- In The Philippines, on average, 96.2 per cent of the
people who borrow in groups pay back their loans on time.
- Poor families with access to financial services are more likely
to send their children to school, and the children stay in school
longer.
- Money sent home by migrant workers boosts the income of poor families.
The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that remittances in
2003 from Mexicans working in the United States totalled US$21 billion.
Through a range of microfinance products, the poor people of the
world can build their assets, have stable access to food and other
necessities, and protect themselves against risk.
Source: IFAD
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