This paper discusses the so-called commercial approach to microfinance under economic and ethical aspects. It first shows how microfinance has developed from a purely welfare-oriented activity to a commercially relevant line of banking business. The background of this stunning success is the...

The paper opens with a brief description of economic growth in Pakistan and its positive but limited trickle down effects. It is followed by a discussion on levels of poverty (...). The analysis brings forward a bleak picture of stagnant economic growth in the 1990s, rising poverty levels and...