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Capital And Financial Development Report

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It is commonly argued that the lack of access to capital and financial services functions as a major barrier to attaining and sustaining adequate levels of socio-economic development for numerous communities and households across the world. According to the Global Financial Development Report (2014) by the World Bank, about two billion or 38% of adults in the world do not use formal financial services. This pandemic is even more alarming when contextualized further. Close to 73% of poor people remain unbanked, more than half of adults in the poorest 40% of households in developing countries, and about 80% of the poor living under the $2/day poverty line have no form of bank account due to a plateau of reasons ranging from costs, travel distances, and other burdensome requirements involved in opening financial accounts. To combat this undesirable phenomenon, the overwhelming majority of policy makers, donors, investors, academics, and practitioners enthusiastically welcomed the emergence of microfinance and promoted it as an inclusive, pro-poor, and sustainable form of finance. An alternative to mainstream finance, capable of reaching the most capital deprived enterprises, households, and individuals. By the end of the 1990s, microfinance institutions erected and appeared in practically all corners of the developing world. According to the Microfinance Summit Campaign (2013), as of 31 December 2012, 3, 718 microfinance institutions reported reaching over 203 million people,
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