Archive for the ‘Aid’ Category

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, July 22, 2009: Manonmani, a housewife with two children, lived for many years in a slum in Tiruchirpalli with acute water shortage. For a family of four, access to water once every four days was too inadequate to survive.  Thanks to Water.org,  she found their local affiliate Gramalaya, a microfinance institution which came to her locality and provided them loans for a new water connection. Full story

MF Focus, July 17, 2009: State Bank of Pakistan has extended risk guarantee facility for microfinance banks and institutions with a fund of GBP 10 million received from the UK Department of International Development (DFID) which will be kept as reserve for the purpose, said a circular issued by the bank on Friday. (For a full version of the circular, visit SBP url: www.sbp.org.pk/Guidelines/index2.asp) The bank has also restrained microfinance interest rate by MFIs not to exceed 16% or two percent above the official discount rate of 14% and ameded its guidelines for the Microfinance Credit Guarantee Facility (MCGF) that was introduced in May this year. Full story