COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of h...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2020
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| _version_ | 1797106676144275456 |
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| author | Malik, K Meki, M Morduch, J Ogden, T Quinn, S Said, F |
| author_facet | Malik, K Meki, M Morduch, J Ogden, T Quinn, S Said, F |
| author_sort | Malik, K |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of households. The institutions serve populations poorly-served by traditional commercial banks, helping customers invest in microenterprises, save, and maintain liquidity. We report results from ‘rapid response’ phone surveys of about 1,000 microenterprise owners, a survey of about 200 microfinance loan officers, and interviews with regulators and senior representatives of microfinance institutions. We ran these surveys starting about a week after the country went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. We find that, on average, week-on-week sales and household income both fell by about 90%. Households’ primary immediate concern in early April became how to secure food. As a result, 70% of the sample of current microfinance borrowers reported that they could not repay their loans; loan officers anticipated a repayment rate of just 34% in April 2020. We build from the results to argue that COVID-19 represents a crisis for microfinance in low-income communities. It is also a chance to consider the future of microfinance, and we suggest insights for policy reform. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:05:57Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:38645c35-78d8-4c5c-a1ad-b8b3a74e2d6b |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:05:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:38645c35-78d8-4c5c-a1ad-b8b3a74e2d6b2022-05-04T08:17:35ZCOVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from PakistanJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:38645c35-78d8-4c5c-a1ad-b8b3a74e2d6bEnglishSymplectic ElementsOxford University Press2020Malik, KMeki, MMorduch, JOgden, TQuinn, SSaid, FThe COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of households. The institutions serve populations poorly-served by traditional commercial banks, helping customers invest in microenterprises, save, and maintain liquidity. We report results from ‘rapid response’ phone surveys of about 1,000 microenterprise owners, a survey of about 200 microfinance loan officers, and interviews with regulators and senior representatives of microfinance institutions. We ran these surveys starting about a week after the country went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. We find that, on average, week-on-week sales and household income both fell by about 90%. Households’ primary immediate concern in early April became how to secure food. As a result, 70% of the sample of current microfinance borrowers reported that they could not repay their loans; loan officers anticipated a repayment rate of just 34% in April 2020. We build from the results to argue that COVID-19 represents a crisis for microfinance in low-income communities. It is also a chance to consider the future of microfinance, and we suggest insights for policy reform. |
| spellingShingle | Malik, K Meki, M Morduch, J Ogden, T Quinn, S Said, F COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan |
| title | COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan |
| title_full | COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan |
| title_short | COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: Evidence and insights from Pakistan |
| title_sort | covid 19 and the future of microfinance evidence and insights from pakistan |
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