Micro-credit
Micro-credit has a long history in Bangladesh for alleviating poverty. Despite poverty alleviation, microcredit also has significant contribution in women empowerment, rural development, lifestyle improvement, small enterprise development. Micro-credits in Bangladesh are provided by various micro-finance institutes which includes various NGOs, Grameen Bank, public & private banks, various special program by various ministries. A total of 248 billion (including 72 billion of Grameen Bank) outstanding loan has been allocated. Total number of 350 million (including 8.4 million of Grameen Bank) borrowers are taking benefit of microcredit and accelerating the economic progress of the nation.
Micro-credit services can be categorized into six broad groups:
- General microcredit for small-scale self employment based activities,
- Microenterprise loans,
- Loans for ultra poor,
- Agricultural loans,
- Seasonal loans, and
- Loans for disaster management.
Loan amounts up to BDT 50,000 are generally considered as microcredit; loans above this amount are considered as micro-enterprise loans.
Source: Micro-credit Regulatory Authority of Bangladesh
