As the FT reports this morning:
The microfinance industry has been accused of “sucking blood from the poor” by the prime minister of Bangladesh as part of a growing backlash against the microlending business in the country of its birth.
I think microfinance in principle a ‘good thing’.
Equally I am quite sure it can be corrupted. And I’m absolutely sure that the involvement of the Development Finance Institutions from Europe — such as the UK’s CDC plc — have helped corrupt it.
They have thrown money at these markets — almost all routed through tax havens — a sure indicator of where their own priorities are.
If as a result they’ve begun to destroy a source of hope for the poor — shame on them.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
Interesting piece by Milford Bateman about the ongoing Indian micro-finance debt crisis here, with discussion on the ‘control fraud’ angle.