Microfinance for the rural poor in Cambodia | |
| Author | Thuy Moly |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-07-02 |
| Subject(s) | Rural poor--Cambodia Microfinance--Cambodia |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The study examines the availability and impact of microfinance service in the rural area of Cambodia. The demand, supply, utilization and level of credit recovery with benefits and satisfactions that people get from the microfinance are under the focus of this study. A sample size of 100 respondents were drawn from Sangke district for primary investigation concerning their credit demand, utilization arul repayment performance as well as benefits they get. Three Microfinance organizations were reviewed to understand their credit services, delivery system and especially, compulsory saving. However, more MFIs are involved in providing microfinance services in the study area. The results show each village can easily access to MFIs services but those MFIs do not always benefit the poorest and the poor people. There are three categories of borrowers among the respondents- the poorest, the poor and the non-poor. Study shows that the nonpoor have more advantage in microfinance service, such as the tendency to get bigger loan amount and lower interest rate than the poor and non-poor. Most of the respondents in the study area use microfinance service. Almost all of them borrow in a lower loan amount with the exception of 5% borrowers. There are two methods of borrowing: group loan and individual loan. Compulsory saving service with no-interest rate is often tied to the group loan. Majority of the people borrow for agriculture, trade and service sector. People do not always use loan in line with the purpose for which they borrow. The repayment rate of respondents is quite high but some times the poorest group repays by disposing their assets and properties, which are not desirable. Some poorest sell their property, get money from their own saving and even borrow from other MFIs to repay their debt. Despite the higher concentration of microfinance program in the area, borrowers could always tum to individual money lenders for their alternate source of credit with higher interest rate than the MFIs. High interest rates as well as collateral requirements are the critical issues under the study. People did get some benefit from microfinance mostly, in the form of increasing income and there are some people who have increased their assets after using microfinance service. In overall, people feel neutral towards satisfaction about the microfinance services and they request the microfinance institutions to lower the interest rate for the credit and expect higher interest rate for their voluntary savings. Microfinance services should find ways to lower its interest rate charged on credit as well as increase the interest rate on voluntary saving services to attract more depositors as well as to give more benefits to the rural poor. |
| Year | 2007 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Routray, Jayant Kumar; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soparth Pongquan;Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | SWEDEN (Sida) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2007 |