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Zambian MFIs Complain of Negative Impact of Bank of Zambia Interest Rates Limits
The decision by Bank of Zambia (BoZ) to limit interest rates that licenced non-banking financial institutions can charge customers had a negative effect on micro-finance institutions (MFIs) performance last year.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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Absolute Portfolio Management Invests $8.5m in Microfinance Institutions in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset management group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it disbursed credits totaling the approximate equivalent of USD 8.5 million from its two Vision Microfinance funds, the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency, to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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PRESS RELEASE: Asian Development Bank Loans $200m to Yes Bank of India to Fund Women’s Self-Help Groups, Small Farmers
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a multilateral development finance institution based in the Philippines, has recently approved a loan of up to USD 200 million to Yes Bank Limited, an Indian commercial bank based in Mumbai. The loan will be on-lent to “2.5 million rural, low income women”[1] who are members of self-help groups and “up to 37,000 small-scale farmers”[1] working in rural areas of the country. The loan agreement also includes a provision for USD 1 million to be used for technical assistance for capacity building, including financial literacy training and product development.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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Ujjivan Financial Services Clinches Single Largest Funding Deal in India’s Microfinance Sector
UK's Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), private equity investors CX Partners, Newquest and a unit of Bajaj Group are leading a Rs 600-crore investment in Ujjivan Financial Services, clinching the single largest funding deal in India's microfinance sector, sources directly familiar with the matter said.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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What If We Gave Microcredit to Tech Talent in Developing Countries?
Outsourcing things like call center work and data entry to developing countries has been a trend for a long time, but those are mostly low-skill, low-paying jobs.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
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Cash Versus Cows (Part 1): Looking at the benefits of asset versus cash transfer programs
Is it better to give a cow or cash? Are cash and asset transfers hand-outs or a hand up for the extreme poor? BRAC examined the two approaches, and in the first installment of a two-part post, it compares the impact of cash transfers versus physical productive assets like livestock, seed and agricultural inputs, or a bundle of goods for petty sales.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Better Loans for Better Housing: How Housing Microfinance and Strategic Value Chains Can Help Alleviate the Low-Income Housing Deficit
The majority of the world’s population lives in cities, and much of our future population growth is projected to occur in cities in the developing world. But in spite of the demand, the BoP housing market has been largely handicapped by informality and undeveloped channels for financing and technical assistance. Gary Carrier explores a number of market-based solutions.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- housing, lending, microfinance
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NexThought Monday (2/10/14) – The Kiva Fairytale: It’s a Microlending Superstar – But Who is it Really Serving?
Beloved by the public and celebrated by the likes of Bill Clinton and Oprah, Kiva is perhaps the most famous microlender in the world. It lets users lend small amounts via the Internet to individual low-income entrepreneurs, based on their personal stories and photos. But according to Hugh Sinclair, it’s focused more on making lenders feel good than on actually helping the poor.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment