The aim of this paper is to present that NGO type Microfinance Institutions
(MFIs) are operating more effectively than government funded agricultural
development bank in many aspects, even though there are many restrictions
that the government imposes to civil activities.
Military government Myanmar is concerned with poverty reduction very much, especially because poverty and economic instability could lead political unrest of the country. The government implements many projects for poverty reduction. One of them is MF project, led by PACT Myanmar, an international NGO.
One the other hand, the government is cautious to NGO activities because
these grass-root activities could turn to violent anti-government movement.
There is no exception to microfinance NGOs in the restriction. However,
NGO MFIs are doing well in their operations.
Rural finance institution owned by the government is Myanma Agricultural
Development Bank (MADB). It has 205 branches. It claims that it has around
1 million clients and disbursed 20,383 million Kyats between 2003 and 2004.
However, upper class officers, who are from the military, are suspicious
to civil professional staffs, thus MADB has a lot of troubles in its operation.
For example, MADB is subject to Sec. 61 of Financial Institution Law, which
is applicable originally only to commercial banks, and which imposes much
lower interest rate than inflation rate. This leads the problem of MADB’s
financial sustainability.
The biggest MF project in Myanmar led by NGO is the one led by PACT Myanmar. The number of clients is around 330,000 in 2007. The amount of total loans disbursed is around 60,625 million Kyats. The size is bigger even though the project operates only in 3 areas in Myanmar. Sec. 61 of Financial Law is not applicable. Other MF NGOs are in the same situation, they have flexibility in the application of Sec. 61., etc.
Thus, MF NGOs are operating flexibly compared to MADB. In this sense,
MF NGOs are successful.
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