英语论文网

R has grown quickly, but cannot be compared in member of clients. By the end of 1994, PPPCR had served 10,000 clients, and two years later it had reached about 25,000 clients. Despite all of the careful modifications of the Grameen model to the Burkina Faso context, the provision of micro finance services has proved to be quite costly in the Sahel. The reasons for these high costs are more related to the environment (low population density, poor infrastructure, poverty, illiteracy etc.) than to the methodology of group lending itself. The PPPCR has experienced greater efficiency in the past couple of years as it continues to learn from its early experience & achieves economies of scale.

Generally, the results in this study have shown that none of the institutions have been able to cover the cost of subsidies despite in roads towards financial viability. Most of micro finance institutions limit their ability to achieve high volumes of loan advances and savings. In sum, the most important lesson is that a wide variety of market niches exist in the field of micro finance (Abinet Gebrekidan; 2006:5).

Various efforts by government, donors and international organisations have been initiated to provide alternative credit lines targeted to meet the needs of the micro and small enterprises(MSEs) normally ignored by formal banks. Holt and Ribe (1991) identify four types of such institutions:

Innovative programmes with commercial banks

NGOs as financial intermediaries retailing credit from the bank to small borrowers

Parallel credit programmes, for example CARE in Niger which offers financial and technical services

Poverty-focused development banks such as Grameen and the People’s Bank of Nigeria

In Ghana for instance three categories of institutions offering alternatives to bank credit can be identified:

Bank-related schemes such as the Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development(FUSMED) of the Development Finance Department of Bank of Ghana, Microfinance and Small loans Centre(MASLOC) where funds are provided through designated banks known as Participating Financial Institutions(PFIs) for on-lending to SMEs, the Rural Finance Project and the Group farming lending schemes.

NGO credit schemes available as component of agriculture and production oriented programmes such as Technoserve, Global 2000.

The third relates to government initiatives with bilateral assistance.

2.4 Types of credits/loans

There are basically three types of loans or credit operational within the sub-Saharan African. These are Short-Term Loans, Intermediate-Term Loans and Long-Term Loans.

Short- Term Loans

A short term loan is one that is scheduled to be paid within a period of one year. The common forms short term loans are trade credit- created when the seller allows the buyer to take the merchandise immediately and pay for it later. Short term loans are particularly helpful when a temporary need for more capital exists such as when retailers build up a seasonal inventory and pay for it when it is sold.

Intermediate-Term Loans

Intermediate loans or credit provide capital for periods from one to ten years. Such loans are usually paid back in a series of installments. These are loans meant to fill the gap in the fin