Following recent literature, we hypothesise that saving and borrowing among microfinance clients are substitutes, satisfying the same underlying demand for a regular deposit schedule and a lumpsum withdrawal. We test this using a framed field experiment among women participating in group lending...

This study looks at the effectiveness of the strategy and the complementary interventions of the Sustainable Livelihood Program's Self-Employment Assistance Kaunlaran (SLP SEA-K). The SLP SEA-K uses a microcredit strategy which intends to provide credit access to the poor, improve the ability of...

Using data from a quick survey of various rural (RFIs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) in East Asia, the paper tries to find out how those institutions and their clientele have been affected by the global financial crisis, how they have coped with the ongoing crisis, and what they plan to...

Microfinance is an emerging important financial subsector in Asian transition countries. Its role is to improve financial access of the poor and small economic players and thus help them to build assets, thereby contribute to poverty alleviation. This paper provides an overview of rural finance...

This paper describes some emerging innovations in microfinance observed in Southeast Asian microfinance markets that make it possible for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to reach a greater number of poor households on a sustainable basis. It discusses the nature, importance and types of...

The shift to a market-oriented credit and financial policy was expected to spur rural financing by the private sector that would help usher growth in the agriculture and rural areas. However, the rural areas have continued to suffer from the lack of access to financial services of banks. Despite...

Low-income households find it hard to cope with the risks brought about by an illness or injury, death of a family member, man-made calamities, and natural disasters. Demand for microinsurance products is growing and both formal and informal microinsurance schemes have started to emerge to...

This study assesses the state of microinsurance in the country, identifies the players and their performance, and the challenges facing microinsurance development. The term micro pertains to the capacity of a program to handle the small, sometime irregular cash flows of poor households, who have...

Standard models of investment predict that credit-constrained firms should grow rapidly when given additional capital, and that how this capital is provided should not affect decisions to invest in the business or consume the capital. The authors randomly gave cash and in-kind grants to male-...

This paper looks at the existing credit programs for smallholders, including agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). It also assesses the Agrarian Production Credit Program, which is a program being implemented in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and the Land Bank of the...