Microfinance in Asia and Africa

Microfinance is a term for the practice of providing financial services, such as microcredit, microsavings or microinsurance to poor people. By helping them to accumulate usably large sums of money, this expands their choices and reduces the risks they face. As suggested by the name, most transactions involve small amounts of money, frequently less than US$100.

A few key principles of Microfinance are:

1. The poor need a variety of financial services, not just loans.
   • Just like everyone else, poor people need a wide range of financial services that are convenient, flexible, and reasonably priced. Depending on their circumstances, poor people need not only credit, but also savings, cash transfers, and insurance.
2. Microfinance is a powerful instrument against poverty.
   • Access to sustainable financial services enables the poor to increase incomes, build assets, and reduce their vulnerability to external shocks. Microfinance allows poor households to move from everyday survival to planning for the future, investing in better nutrition, improved living conditions, and children’s health and education.
3. Microfinance means building financial systems that serve the poor.
   • Poor people constitute the vast majority of the population in most developing countries. Yet, an overwhelming number of the poor continue to lack access to basic financial services. In many countries, microfinance continues to be seen as a marginal sector and primarily a development concern for donors, governments, and socially-responsible investors. In order to achieve its full potential of reaching a large number of the poor, microfinance should become an integral part of the financial sector.

More key principles of microfinance can be found at CGAP Ayuktakh 13:02, 17 November 2007 (EST)

Zimbabwe

General Economic analysis of Zimbabwe

▪ Zimbabwe is one of the most economically developed country on the African continent.

▪ Zimbabwe has only enjoyed recognized autonomy since 1980, so it is a fairly young political entity.

▪ Zimbabwe's economic system is one indicative of a transitional country, a country making the transition from dependency underdevelopment to self-reliant industrialization.

▪ The dynamics of underdevelopment to development in Zimbabwe are readily apparent.

Geography

▪ Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in the southern, sub-Saharan area of the African continent.

▪ Harare is Zimbabwe's capital and largest city with a population of 1,100,000.

People

▪ Zimbabweans are comprised of two primary ethnic groups, the Shona, comprising 74% of the population and the Ndebele comprising 20%.

▪ Other ethnic black groups and Asians make up 4% of the population while whites make up just over 1% of the population.

▪ Zimbabwe has a population of 10.35 million people with a population density of 24 persons per km2.

▪ Annual growth rate is declining with -15%.